The fourth season of Hulu’s dystopian series The Handmaid’s Tale was released this past Spring and the show has been renewed for a fifth year. While that has not been announced as its final season, it is possible that the show could be wrapping up around that point. The showrunners originally envisioned as many as eight seasons from the drama, but that timeframe appears to have adjusted now that it has four under its belt. Hulu’s head of scripted originals Jordan Helman had the following to say to Deadline about when the show would end:
The success of The Handmaid’s Tale remains paramount for us. That said, what is also most important to us is that we close out that show in creative fashion that feels organic so we are in constant communication, literally right now, talking with Bruce [Miller], Lizzie [Moss] and Warren [Littlefield], about what the best way to end The Handmaid’s Tale is. We haven’t landed on an answer… I imagine we’re going to be able to answer that question in the coming months.
The streaming services tend to wrap up their originals around their third or fourth season because shows are typically not drawing many new subscribers by that point. The Handmaid’s Tale if the first original for which Hulu will have produced more than four seasons, but this one still appears to be peforming quite well. According to Deadline, the fourth season saw a 32% growth in its audience and was the most-watched so far which certainly indicates that it is continuing to draw new subscribers to the streamer. So the decision on when to end the series appears to be more of a creative one which means that they are trying to not drag it out too long and that they are searching for the proper point to conclude the story.
A sequel series is in the works based on Margaret Atwood’s The Testaments which takes place fiften years after the events of the original novel. Helman had this to say about the upcoming series and how it impacts the direction of The Handmaid’s Tale:
The conversation around The Testaments is tied to conversations around The Handmaid’s Tale. Margaret Atwood’s work has become an incredibly important brand signifier for us at Hulu and so what we want to do is to ensure that we introduce the world of The Testaments in a way that feels organic to the work that has already been done on the platform. The two questions are tied. The birth of The Testaments on Hulu and the eventual end of The Handmaid’s Tale are related, we’re figuring out that as we speak.
In addition, Hulu is working on a series based on Atwood’s Maddaddam, though that is a completely separate property. Based on where the story of The Handmaid’s Tale is at this point, the fifth season seems like a reasonable place to wrap it up. Though they could perhaps get a sixth season out of this one as well, and that would bring it to an episode count that makes the show more attractive for future sales in the syndication market (though the streaming services rarely target that goal). Most important at this point is that the show ends at the right place based on creative decisions and not network executive motivations to milk the franchise further or cut it short to keep costs down. And it does appears that Hulu and the showrunners are approaching the series conclusion in the right way and will allow this one to go out on its on terms.
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