The Handmaid’s Tale is back for season four on Channel 4 - but did you know it also has a spin-off in the works? The Testaments will be based on the sequel to Margaret Atwood’s novel, and will be based 15 years in Gilead’s future - Aunt Lydia at centre stage.
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According to the series’ showrunner Bruce Miller, the spin-off will be an “extension of the series”. He told TIME: “The Testaments really gives us much wider glimpses into other parts of the world. They can't keep Offred in Gilead for many more seasons, or a certain amount of wheel spinning will be going on. They have to move her along."
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Speaking about the exciting spin-off on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Ann said: “I'm just going to say it right now, I thought to myself, ‘I hope they're going to let me play her.’ The problem is that if they don't, the actress who would have been chosen should watch her back because I would hunt her until she gives it up."
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Previously chatting about Margaret Atwood’s follow-up novel, which was released in 2019, she said: “I was thrilled — let's get real on that — by what Aunt Lydia does and how she does it, her understanding of Gilead to its core and what will bring it down. What surprised me — and didn't — is how [she] got involved in Gilead in the first place.
Ann plays Aunt Lydia in The Handmaid's Tale
"When you play a role such as Lydia in The Handmaid's Tale, you search for a human connection that somehow explains why she would make the choices she makes. Now, you read The Testaments, and Lydia, being a family court judge, realised really quickly, 'If I want to live and survive this world, this is what you have to do. Not only am I going to do it, I'm going to do it better than anybody so I'm going to be ruling the other Aunts.’"
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