The Testaments Team in Broadcasting is Chasing Infinity & Hoping for More Seasons
“It was just Agnes” Testaments creator Bruce Miller told Deadline Chase Inifniti was interviewing for the lead in the Hulu series. An adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s book and a sequel The Handmaid’s Tale tells the story of Agnes’s growth as a member of the elite group of Gilead.
At the time of the interview Infiniti was wrapping a film One Battle After Anotherwhich made him popular around the world and on the red carpet at the Academy Awards. Last weekend was the Series Mania purple carpet as Infiniti came to Lille for the first time in the world Testaments. “It wasn’t a decision,” Miller said of the decision to play, noting that the team was hoping to hire a breakout star when they brought him in. “Then we expect the whole world to comment.”
Series exec producer Warren Littlefield added that Elisabeth Moss, star of the The Handmaid’s Tale series and EP in the Testaments they also know that they have found their Agnes when they see Infiniti. “We all agreed; Lizzie Moss, one of our main producers, was thinking about it herself. She thought she was amazing. She had the same reaction we all did, which was, ‘Oh, there’s Agnes.’
The girls and young women of Gilead are the focus of this show. They are the daughters of commanders and attend a privileged school run by Aunt Lydia (Ann Dowd). As Agnes, Infiniti plays opposite Lucy Halliday and Daisy, who is Pearl, an outsider allowed into Auntie’s domain. “Season 1 is an awakening,” Littlefield said. “It’s the only world they know and don’t know the horrors of yet. Readers and fans of ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ and readers of ‘The Testaments’ may know more about Agnes than Agnes.
If Season 1 is a revival, the intention is for this to be the first of several new chapters. Miller’s modus operandi is to have 200 confusing episodes of the show in his head. In this case, that would be up to 20 seasons. You know Testaments it won’t take that long – The Handmaid’s Tale reached 66 – but hopes to tell a story that spans multiple seasons: “I’m trying to be realistic and my idea in this area is 30, 40, 50 episodes.”
The iconic red dresses of The Handmaid’s Tale they are gone again Testaments it presents a rich and colorful world where old girls wear purple and pearls wear white. Littlefield says the series is a sequel to his rival but also independent “The world has moved on from the events of the previous series. The Handmaid’s Tale. It’s a different, different time [color] palette. It’s no longer June’s story, now it’s the girls’ vision.
“If you know motherhood, that’s great, but you don’t have to. You come into this new. It’s yours from the beginning.
For many readers ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ and ‘The Testament’ continue to hold a mirror to this day. Miller says of the new series it “relates well to our world.” Despite the horrors experienced by the women of Gilead, the message is one of hope. “Young women who have grown up and grown up in that world are full of rebellion… it’s the unstoppable power and strength and hope of youth.”
Littlefield says that optimism is important: “Margaret saw what the future could be.” [in ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’]. Then in 2018 he writes ‘Testaments’, published in 2019, and then we go ‘How did you do this, how did you put your finger, not only in America but in the world. Then you also give us hope, and these young women enlighten us that maybe there is a way forward.”
