Underplayed Gems

The Handmaid's Tale (2017)

The Handmaid's Tale poster
Genre
drama television series, post-apocalyptic television program, LGBT-related television series, dystopian fiction
Country
United States
Length
6 seasons, 66 episodes
Rated
TV-MA
Rating
8.2 of 10 from 3,324 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this series is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

In a totalitarian society after a civil war, fertile women called Handmaids are forced into sexual servitude to bear children for the ruling class. The story follows one Handmaid as she navigates this brutal world and seeks to regain her freedom.

tensebleakslow-burnoppressiveunsettlingemotionally rawsuspensefulthought-provoking

What happens

The Handmaid's Tale is an American dystopian television series created by Bruce Miller, based on the 1985 novel The Handmaid's Tale by Canadian author Margaret Atwood. The series was ordered by the streaming service Hulu as a straight-to-series order of ten episodes, for which production began in late 2016. The plot features a dystopia following a Second American Civil War wherein a theonomic, totalitarian society subjects fertile women, called "Handmaids", to child-bearing slavery. The series premiered on April 26, 2017, and was renewed for five additional seasons, with the sixth and final season premiering on April 8, 2025. Its first season won eight Primetime Emmy Awards from 13 nominations, including Outstanding Drama Series. It was the first show produced by Hulu to win a major award and the first series on a streaming service to win an Emmy for Outstanding Series. It also won the Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series – Drama. Elisabeth Moss was awarded the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series and the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Television Drama Series. A sequel series based on Atwood's 2019 sequel novel The Testaments premiered in April 2026 on Hulu. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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