The Emmy and Golden Globe-winning Hulu series The Handmaid's Tale's first season, based on Margaret Atwood's 1985 novel, could not have been more timely as it coincided with the election of an admitted sexual predator to the White House and the Trump administration's subsequent dismantling of women's agency.
Nearly a year since Trump took office, Hulu released a first-look trailer for The Handmaid's Tale's second season and like the state of American society, things look more dystopian than ever.
The show's first season ended where the novel left off, with the protagonist Offred (Elisabeth Moss) getting hauled off in a van having either been rescued by the resistance or plucked up by the authoritarian government. The second season will reach beyond the narrative of Atwood's story in the Republic of Gilead and into the hinterlands only mentioned in the novel.
While the new trailer for the season that drops on Hulu on April 25, doesn't offer too much information, it would appear, judging from the muzzlelike leather mask on Offred (like the one Alexis Bledel's "gender traitor" Ofglen was forced to wear) that she failed to make her escape. Images of the handmaids' signature red gowns and winged caps are particularly chilling, especially in one shot that depicts handmaids eerily eyeing what appear to be male politicians -- a scene reminiscent of a photo of Trump surrounded by men as he signed the first executive order of his tenure, the Global Gag Order that banned U.S. aid to overseas non-governmental organizations that provide or advise on abortions.
The trailer features Malia J's cover of Buffalo Springfield's classic protest song "For What It's Worth" over images of Moss's Offred, Samira Wiley's Moira, Yvonne Strahovski's frightening Serena Joy, and Joseph Fiennes's Draconian commander.
Watch below.