'The Handmaid's Tale' Season Four Hits Hulu Early, And Its Stars Dish On What To Expect

Season four of the Emmy award-winning series The Handmaid’s Tale has just hit Hulu, hours before it was originally scheduled to.

According to Deadline, the first three episodes are now available to view, with the remaining episodes premiering weekly on the streaming platform. Of the three is an episode titled “The Crossing,” which marks star Elisabeth Moss’ directorial debut.

Ahead of the return of the smash hit series, both Moss and her co-star Joseph Fiennes stopped to speak to Deadline about fans should expect. When asked how she would define this season, Moss said, “This season is about fulfilling a lot of the things we’ve hinted at. By that I mean, I know you want it to go in this direction, but it’s not going to go there yet.”

Still from The Handmaid’s Tale’s 4th season.

Expressing her excitement over the fact that the series has already been renewed for a fifth season she stopped just short of spoiling anything to say:

“[With this season] we finally let these characters run, and they all have these incredible arcs this season. We have the opportunity to see, I think, a lot more of the characters, which is something that was conscious. It’s this fantastic thing that over the years, all of these characters, not just June, have become so interesting and so interesting to watch and the audience loves them, and so we really focused a lot on trying to make sure that we really were diving into all of their stories and giving everybody their time with their arc, and you can see that in the season…Now, does it all turn out the way that we thought it would? Is it the way…is it as bright and sunny as we thought it might be? Maybe not, but freedom is a very complicated thing.”

Agreeing with Moss, Fiennes referred to the season as, “really interesting,” and compared the new arcs to an onion ready to be peeled.

Based on Margaret Atwood’s infamous novel of the same name The Handmaid’s Tale takes place in a totalitarian future where fertile women are forced to bear children against their will as slaves. In addition to being the first show on a streaming service to win an Emmy for Outstanding Series, it’s garnered a slew of other awards for the performances of its actors, including Moss.

Source: Deadline