Margaret Atwood Is Writing a Sequel to ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’
Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale just wrapped its second season, and now author Margaret Atwood has announced a sequel to the original novel of the same name that inspired the hit series.
“Yes indeed to those who asked: I’m writing a sequel to #TheHandmaidsTale,” Atwood shared on Twitter on Wednesday, November 28. “#TheTestaments is set 15 years after Offred’s final scene and is narrated by three female characters.” She added that the book will hit shelves in September 2019.
In a statement via her publisher, Penguin Random House, Atwood shared additional details on The Testaments, which will come 34 years after the original dystopian novel was published in 1985.
“Everything you’ve ever asked me about Gilead and its inner workings is the inspiration for this book,” she said. “Well, almost everything! The other inspiration is the world we’ve been living in.” Editor Nan A. Talese said in a statement that the original work and its successor are as culturally relevant as ever, “standing for female empowerment and resistance in the face of misogyny and the rolling back of women’s rights around the world.”
Yes indeed to those who asked: I’m writing a sequel to The #HandmaidsTale. #TheTestaments is set 15 years after Offred’s final scene and is narrated by three female characters. It will be published in Sept 2019. More details: https://t.co/e1umh5FwpX pic.twitter.com/pePp0zpuif
— Margaret E. Atwood (@MargaretAtwood) November 28, 2018
It’s a timely announcement from the treasured Canadian author, whose original work told the tale of the fictional Gilead Republic’s oppression of women, a theme that resonated with modern audiences when it was adapted into a dark drama for Hulu in 2017. Atwood’s literary sequel is not tied to the Hulu show, which is currently in production for season 3.
What do you think of the news of a Handmaid’s Tale sequel? Let us know @BritandCo.
(photos via George Kraychyk/Hulu + Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for Hammer Museum)
