When The Handmaid's Tale wrapped up last year after six brutal, emotionally punishing seasons of television, there was no reunion for June and her first-born Hannah (who had been stolen by Gilead when she was a young child) because The Testaments had already been confirmed.
"Knowing we couldn't reunite them, it was heartbreaking because we're certainly aware of how much the audience was longing for that. It seemed to be what was driving June over the course of the whole series," said showrunner Eric Tuchman in an interview with the Los Angeles Times.
Showrunner Yahlin Chang admitted that was something they "really struggled with... speaking for myself — not giving people what they wanted or what I wanted. The idea of her telling the story to Hannah was just so emotionally captivating".
The sequel, based on Margaret Atwood's 2019 novel, is set just a few years after the events of the TV series (in the book it's 15 years) in Gilead, at the centre of which are three characters, one of whom is Hannah – or Agnes, as she was renamed – played here by One Battle After Another's Chase Infiniti.
Given her father's status as a high-ranking commander, Agnes attends an elite academy, where she's learning how to become the perfect Gileadian wife.
So, as far removed from her freedom fighting mother as she can get.
But while fans will be eager for The Testaments to deliver that long-awaited reunion – and no one could argue it wouldn't feel earned – show creator Bruce Miller and executive producer Warren Littlefield discussed how they balance audience expectation and hopes with what is actually truthful to the story they are telling.
"[The] rooting interest of the audience is one aspect of how I decide to do things, of course, because I have that same rooting interest, and so do the characters," Miller told Radio Times.
"Agnes certainly is rooting for Agnes, it's not just the audience. She wants things to work out, she would like to get together with a guy and she would like to have a life, so anything that can bring you closer to the characters and [create] simpatico with the characters is bringing you into the show.
"And worrying about the characters is certainly one of those things you can share with them."
Yet while they "embrace passionate opinion from the fan base", Littlefield added that "we may not do exactly what they're asking for in our narrative".
"But they're tuned in, focused and passionate, and that's all we can ask for," he said, while Miller added that the fervent fan discourse is no different from conversations in the writers' room.
"The thing that's absolutely a pleasure is they [the audience] are having exactly the same discussions we are," he said. "So you have people fighting it out, [and] that's what we do all day long, is just fight it out.
"And so to see that, it helps when you realise, 'Oh, they're all on the same page.' You feel like, 'Oh, okay, I'm kind of doing the right thing.' Getting some feedback online... helps me a lot in terms of how to keep people on track together.
"In the old days, you'd get letters seven months later, and it didn't really help you with filming."
View Green Video on the source websiteAlongside Agnes, another key figure in this saga is Daisy, "a new arrival and convert from beyond Gilead's borders" – or Canada to us regular folk.
She attends the same school as Agnes, run by none other than Aunt Lydia, where "their bond becomes the catalyst that will upend their past, present and future".
Ann Dowd told Radio Times that it was a "privilege" to reprise her role, adding: "Imagine knowing a character now for my seventh year – it's wonderful."
"And she's gone through so many changes, ones she's brought upon herself after being brought to her knees by June Osborne at the end of The Handmaid's Tale," she said, teasing "a different world" and a "gentler" Aunt Lydia.
"She's let go. She's dropped a lot of the weight she carried in The Handmaid's Tale, which I think is the right adjustment."
The Testaments will be premiering on Disney+ in the UK on Wednesday 8 April 2026.
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Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
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