'Handmaid's Tale' sequel 'The Testaments' is 'easier to take in'

Kelly Lawler and Allison Moses, USA TODAYTue, April 7, 2026 at 4:42 PM UTC

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The world of "The Handmaid's Tale" is back, in a new spinoff with a whole new cast, a whole new story and a whole new vibe. But if you ask its creator, it's the bright colors that make all the difference

"The clothes," jokes executive producer Bruce Miller when asked at the premiere of "The Testaments" (streaming Wednesdays on Hulu) what he hopes people will take away from his second series set in Margaret Atwood's dystopian and misogynistic Gilead. Standing on a purple carpet and wearing a purple tie, he's not wrong about the very different look and feel of "Testaments" compared to the gray and red "Handmaid's."

Based on Atwood's 2019 sequel to her 1985 classic, "Testaments" is a continuation of the "Handmaid's" story that was brought to life by Elisabeth Moss over six seasons on Hulu. The Emmy-winning series, responsible for women clad in red gowns and white bonnets at political protests since its debut in 2017, ended in 2025, and "Testaments" is here less than a year later with a fresh young cast clad in purple, white and green, ready to offer a new perspective to the "Handmaid's" world and discourse.

Lucy Halliday as Daisy and Chase Infiniti as Agnes in "The Testaments."

"I think 'Handmaid's' was more painful to watch," says Ann Dowd, who played the tyrannical nun-like Aunt Lydia in the first series and reprises her role in "Testaments." "It had to be, necessarily so. But I think just the nature of 'The Testaments,' it's a gentler one. It's about young women. That's a very, very different world."

Set after the events of "Handmaid's," "Testaments" follows the perspective of Agnes, played by "One Battle After Another" breakout star Chase Infiniti. A smart and spirited teen clad in the plum color of her social station, she occupies the most privileged position any girl could aspire to in Gilead: She's the daughter of a powerful commander. But even in this rich, sheltered life she is a complete submissive, being trained at a school run by Aunt Lydia to be a subservient wife who embroiders and makes tea but never reads or thinks for herself. The closer she gets to womanhood, to wearing the green-colored garments of underage girls forced into marriage, the more Agnes discovers the true horrors of the world she grew up in.

Ann Dowd as Aunt Lydia in "The Testaments."

"Stepping into something that is bigger than you that has the ability to connect with so many people [really] excited me and also made me nervous, of course," Infiniti says. "The story, there's a lot to learn from it. And I hope the audiences learns a lot from it, too."

Agnes is joined on her journey through the oppression of Gilead by a group of fellow teens, including Daisy (Lucy Halliday) an immigrant and white-clad "Pearl Girl" who may be more than just a pious woman attracted to Gilead's way of life.

Halliday, a self-proclaimed Atwood super fan, was eager to join a show she sees as mission-driven. "If you can be a part of anything that helps to enact change or a conversation or the progression of women's rights or anyone's rights, then that's a conversation I want to be a part of," she says. "And if this show is in any way a step forward in a movement for a happier world, then do you know what? That's a journey I'm going to take."

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1 / 0'Handmaid's Tale' sequel 'Testaments' premieres with Chase Infiniti, more stars

Golden Globe Award nominee Chase Infiniti stars in Hulu's new "Handmaid's Tale" sequel "The Testaments." The dystopian series, adapted from Margaret Atwood's 1985 novel, ended with June not reuniting with her oldest daughter, Hannah, but instead determined to continue to fight for her. "The Testaments," described by Hulu as "a coming-of-age story that finds a new generation of young women in Gilead grappling with the bleak future that awaits them," will pick up more than 15 years after the events of "The Handmaid's Tale."See Infiniti and more actors attend the premiere at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures on March 31, 2026, in Los Angeles.

Miller, who also created and produced the original show, sees "Testaments" as a rousing and potentially more hopeful story, which quickly morphs from a tale of teen girls going along with the system to rebellious youths fighting back against their oppression.

"The hope that you get from this younger group of women who are not to be stopped" is inspiring, Miller says. "Even though [the men of] Gilead think they can control them, they're sadly mistaken."

Rowan Blanchard ("Girl Meets World") plays Shunnamite, a classic TV "mean girl" in Agnes's social circle (even totalitarianism can't stop the tropes and truism of teen life). "The show has a levity and a lightness and humor that people don't anticipate," she says. "I really hope that people can connect with our characters and our friendships and the love that we have each other."

The young women of "The Testaments": Shechinah Mpumlwana, Rowan Blanchard, Birva Pandya, Mattea Conforti, Chase Infiniti and Isolde Ardies.

"Viewers are going to have an easier time with 'Testaments,'" Dowd agrees. "I hope everyone got through 'The Handmaid's Tale.' I know it could be rough on the system. But ['Testaments'] is an easier story to take in."

Dowd and her young co-stars are hopeful that the teen-centric "Testaments" will attract young viewers who are ready to hear the same feminist messages of "Handmaid's" in a different package.

"I also hope that audiences resonate with the fact that empowerment and young women coming together is what really is going to mobilize change," says Mattea Conforti, who play's Agnes's best friend Becka. "And that remaining curious and remaining resilient are what's most effective."

"They're going to find a whole different audience," says Dowd. "The younger audience is going to join."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Handmaid's Tale' sequel 'The Testaments' full of hope – and new colors

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