---
title: "The Handmaid's Tale"
year: 2017
kind: "series"
canonical: "https://film.one/tv/the-handmaids-tale"
fi1m_score: 75
critics_score: 87
critics_reviews: 10
published: "2026-09-16T23:02:35.333171+00:00"
updated: "2026-09-16T23:02:35.886951+00:00"
region: "US"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# The Handmaid's Tale (2017)

Created by Bruce Miller · MPA TV-MA · Drama, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Action & Adventure

**Fi1m score: 75** · Critics 87 from 10 reviews

*In a sentence:* Red cloaks, white wings, and a heroine the writers cannot bear to let go of for six years

> For ten episodes this is as frightening as anything television has done with tyranny, built on Elisabeth Moss’s face and Ane Crabtree’s red cloaks. Over six seasons the series keeps hurting June and letting her up again, and the repetition dulls it.

## Synopsis

In the Republic of Gilead, the former United States, births have collapsed and the state has taken the women who can still bear children. June Osborne (Elisabeth Moss), renamed Offred, is a Handmaid in the household of Serena Joy Waterford (Yvonne Strahovski), where her duty is a monthly Ceremony and her only outings are walks to the shops in a red cloak and white wings. Rita Blue (Amanda Brugel) runs the kitchen, and a driver in the household watches more than he says. June remembers a husband, Luke Bankole (O-T Fagbenle), a daughter and a friend, Moira Strand (Samira Wiley), and she wants all three back. Speaking out of turn costs a Handmaid an eye, or worse.

## Review

Margaret Atwood published *The Handmaid’s Tale* in 1985, and Bruce Miller’s series arrived in 2017 to find that the book had not dated. The former United States is now the Republic of Gilead, run by men with guns and a selective reading of scripture. Births have collapsed, and the women who can still have children are rounded up and made Handmaids, to be impregnated once a month in a ceremony with the Wife holding their wrists. June Osborne (Elisabeth Moss) is one of them, renamed Offred. The first ten episodes tell her story roughly as Atwood did, and they are as frightening as anything television has managed. The remaining five seasons have to make it up, and it shows.

The look was settled early and never changed. Ane Crabtree dresses the Handmaids in red from throat to ankle, with white wings that cut off their sideways vision and ours, and the colour does the job of a uniform: you know from across a street what a woman is for. Colin Watkinson and Zoë White shoot the Waterford house by window light, faces dead centre and held long past comfort, and they go overhead whenever the Handmaids gather, a red block on green grass. Julie Berghoff and Elisabeth Williams give June a bedroom with nothing in it that could cut, hang or be thrown. It is a handsome house and it is a cell.

The scene that told us what the series could do is the Ceremony, and we were horrified by it. Not by anything shown: the Commander stays dressed, the light is soft, nobody raises their voice. What did it was the arrangement, Serena Joy Waterford (Yvonne Strahovski) sat at the head of the bed gripping June’s wrists like a nurse, and the camera refusing to leave Moss’s face while she stares at the ceiling and thinks about something else. Her voiceover, which runs through the series, is dry and foul-mouthed and often funny, and it is the only place June is allowed to be a person. Moss plays the rest with her jaw.

Strahovski is the other reason to keep going. Serena helped build Gilead and now cannot leave the house without a man, and the writers, Bruce Miller, Kira Snyder, Yahlin Chang and Eric Tuchman among them, give her more room each season to be clever, cruel and sorry in the same scene. Samira Wiley’s Moira Strand, June’s friend from before, carries the flashbacks that let Julian Clarke and Wendy Hallam Martin cut from a grey bedroom to a bright city where women jog and buy coffee, and the cuts hurt every time. O-T Fagbenle’s Luke Bankole, June’s husband, and Amanda Brugel’s Rita Blue, the household’s Martha, are both better than their screen time. Nick Blaine, the Waterfords’ driver who says little, is the character the series is least sure about, and it never quite decides.

Adam Taylor’s score is low and patient and mostly stays out of the way. The trouble is what happens at the end of episodes, when the drone gives way to a pop song and Moss walks towards camera in slow motion. Once or twice it works. By the third season it is a tic, and we found ourselves bracing for the song rather than for whatever June was about to do.

Which brings us to the length. Six seasons, sixty-six episodes, from 2017 to 2025. We will not say where June goes once the book runs out, only that the writers keep finding new ways to hurt her and then let her up again, and that the pattern becomes visible. By the third season we were bored, and then angry about being bored, because a woman being punished on screen should not become routine. The series knows this and answers with bigger set pieces. Bigger does not help.

Most of the reviews were written about the first ten episodes, and about those they were right. Our score is for the whole, which is a different thing. Watch the first season on its own; it ends roughly where Atwood did, and it stands. Then decide whether you want five more years of it. It is a 15 certificate and earns it in the first hour, without showing much at all.

*Fi1m score 75, published 16 September 2026.*

## What the critics say

The reviews are unanimous in their approval, and the praise gathers in the same places. Most critics find the adaptation faithful to Atwood’s novel while working as television in its own right, and nearly all remark on how closely it seems to speak to the present political moment. Elisabeth Moss’s performance as Offred is singled out more often than anything else, called captivating, nuanced and magnificent. The production is also widely admired, several reviews pointing to the precise compositions and the unhurried pacing.

There is little disagreement. The spread is narrow and no critic is in two minds; the reservations are small. The Times, reviewing the final episode, finds some of the music choices misjudged while still praising the closing hour. A few critics note that the series adds material not in the book, though they treat this as a strength. Where the praise does tilt, it is towards the show’s timeliness rather than the drama itself.

### Reviews we read (10)

- **Empire**, Ian Freer (90/100, inferred): The series is a vital, essential and perfectly crafted TV drama that is profound, terrifying and heart-breaking. It singles out Elisabeth Moss's stellar performance as Offred for particular praise. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/tv/reviews/handmaids-tale-review/)
- **The Guardian** (90/100, inferred): The critic calls the adaptation chilling and brilliant, praising its loyalty to Atwood's novel while delivering powerful television that resonates with contemporary events. Elisabeth Moss's performance as Offred is singled out as utterly captivating. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2017/may/29/handmaids-tale-review-best-thing-youll-watch-all-year)
- **Vulture** (90/100, inferred): The series is a must-watch prestige drama that is meticulously paced, brutal, visually stunning, and suspenseful. It is a faithful yet layered adaptation of the novel with urgent relevance to contemporary issues. [Read](https://www.vulture.com/2017/04/the-handmaids-tale-hulu-review.html)
- **The Hollywood Reporter**, Daniel Fienberg (85/100, inferred): Hulu's timely adaptation is one of the spring's best new shows and makes Elisabeth Moss an immediate Emmy contender. It singles out the beautifully produced speculative thriller elements and Moss's lead performance. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-reviews/handmaids-tale-review-991871/)
- **Variety**, Sonia Saraiya (85/100, inferred): The Hulu adaptation is an upsetting, immersive and horrifyingly beautiful vision of a dystopian world that is a worthy, heartbreaking take on the source material. It singles out the strong performances and profound visual grammar for praise. [Read](https://variety.com/2017/tv/uncategorized/tv-review-the-handmaids-tale-hulu-margaret-atwood-elisabeth-moss-1202325973/)
- **The Times**, Andrew Billen (★★★★☆): The review praises the powerful final episode of the series despite some musical missteps, highlighting incredible scenes and Elisabeth Moss's magnificent performance as Offred. [Read](https://www.thetimes.com/culture/tv-radio/article/tv-review-the-handmaids-tale-casualty-6qx2nz93h)
- **Collider**, Allison Keene (★★★★★): The critic calls the series haunting and extraordinary storytelling, praising its intimate personal experience through Offred's perspective and its reflection of current political fears. It singles out Elisabeth Moss's nuanced performance for praise. [Read](https://collider.com/the-handmaids-tale-review-hulu/)
- **Den of Geek**, Delia Harrington (4.5/5): The adaptation is masterful and timely, with stellar casting and strong plotting that includes new material to update the story. A strong cast, impeccable timing, and devastating story make it a must-watch. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/the-handmaids-tale-review-spoiler-free/)
- **Paste**, Matt Brennan (90/100, inferred): The critic hails the series as the first great political drama of the authoritarian age, praising its aesthetic assurance and depiction of interlocking power structures. It singles out the precise compositions and moments of subtle resistance for praise. [Read](https://www.pastemagazine.com/tv/the-handmaids-tale/the-handmaids-tale-is-the-first-great-political-dr)
- **/Film**, Hoai-Tran Bui (80/100, inferred): The review finds the first episodes harrowing due to their prescient reflection of today's political climate and themes of complicity in oppression. It singles out the timely exploration of totalitarianism and women's autonomy for praise. [Read](https://www.slashfilm.com/550628/the-handmaids-tale-review/)

## Details

- **Created by:** Bruce Miller
- **Creator:** Bruce Miller
- **Director:** Mike Barker, Elisabeth Moss, Daina Reid, Kari Skogland, Natalia Leite, Reed Morano, Colin Watkinson, Floria Sigismondi, Kate Dennis, Deniz Gamze Ergüven, Jeremy Podeswa, Christina Choe, Amma Asante, Richard Shepard, Dana Gonzales, Eva Vives, David Lester, Bradley Whitford, Liz Garbus, Dearbhla Walsh
- **Writer:** Bruce Miller, Eric Tuchman, Yahlin Chang, Jacey Heldrich, Aly Monroe, John Herrera, Nina Fiore, Kira Snyder, Dorothy Fortenberry, J. Holtham, Katherine Collins, Lynn Renee Maxcy, Nika Castillo, Rachel Shukert, Ubah Mohamed, Marissa Jo Cerar
- **Teleplay:** Bruce Miller, Eric Tuchman, Kira Snyder, Dorothy Fortenberry, Lynn Renee Maxcy, Yahlin Chang, John Herrera, Nina Fiore, Wendy Straker Hauser, Leila Gerstein
- **Novel:** Margaret Atwood
- **Cinematography:** Colin Watkinson, Stuart Biddlecombe, Zoë White, Nicola Daley, Stuart Campbell, Bérénice Eveno
- **Editor:** Wendy Hallam Martin, Christopher Donaldson, Aaron Marshall, Ana Yavari, Julian Clarke
- **Music:** Adam Taylor
- **Production design:** Elisabeth Williams, Julie Berghoff, Andrew M. Stearn, Mark White
- **Costume design:** Ane Crabtree
- **Producer:** Joseph Boccia, Dorothy Fortenberry, John Herrera
- **Cast:** Elisabeth Moss as June Osborne / Offred / Ofjoseph; Yvonne Strahovski as Serena Joy Waterford; Max Minghella as Nick Blaine; Samira Wiley as Moira Strand; Amanda Brugel as Rita Blue; Nina Kiri as Alma; O-T Fagbenle as Luke Bankole; Sam Jaeger as Mark Tuello
- **Certificate (MPA):** TV-MA
- **Release (the US):** 26 April 2017
- **Genres:** Drama, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Action & Adventure
- **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81PyH5TH-NQ

## Where to watch in the US

- Hulu: streaming, uhd
- Disney+: add-on, uhd
- Amazon Prime Video: buy, hd
- Apple TV: buy, hd

*Checked 2026-09-16.*

Also available in: AE, AR, AT, AU, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EC, ES, FI, FR, GB, HK, HR, HU, ID, IE, IN, IS, IT, JP, LT, MX, MY, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PE, PH, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SG, SI, TH, TR, UA, US, ZA. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## If you liked this

- *Children of Men* (2006): Britain without births, shot by Cuarón as a place you recognise and dread. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/children-of-men.md)
- *The Lives of Others* (2006), Fi1m 84: East Berlin surveillance drama in which the watcher is the one who changes. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-lives-of-others.md)
- *Top of the Lake* (2013): Elisabeth Moss before Gilead, in a New Zealand town run by men.
- *Threads* (1984), Fi1m 92: Sheffield after the bomb, told flat and plain; the most frightening British television we know. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/threads.md)
- *Persepolis* (2007), Fi1m 87: A girl grows up as Iran’s revolution rewrites what women may wear and say. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/persepolis.md)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/tv/the-handmaids-tale