Hulu has renewed its Handmaid’s Tale spin-off series The Testaments for a second season, and once again, you heard it first hear at CancelledSciFi.com. That one showed up in the Production Weekly listings a month ago and we covered it here while the rest of the mainstream entertainment media paid no attention. Of course, showing up on that list does not guarantee that a renewal (case in point: The Orville Season 4), but there had already been word that the viewership was good for the show, so a second year seemed like a good bet. The Testaments has not shown up in the Nielsen Streaming Rankings yet, but according to Deadline, the show pulled in 11 million hours of viewing over its first eight days and that has risen to 45 million hours by its eighth episode. The Handmaid’s Tale regularly ranked in the Nielsen Top 10 during its run, and it went for six seasons before wrapping up its storylines. According to executive producer Warren Littlefield, they are targeting around three seasons for The Testaments:
I think at least three seasons to tell their story. Of course, the awakening [from Season 1] is not universal. What I love is how specific our cast has become in who they are and how they interpret this world, so that awakening is coming at different times in our narrative, and it will be manifested in all different ways based on their alliances, their personalities, how they respond. But awakening we will have. And I think the fun is, how do these young women respond? How do they band together and become just as fearsome as Gilead is?
The season finale drops next week, and with Season 2 already in production, it will likely arrive at some point in 2027.
This announcement brings the Cancellation/Renewal Score for the 2025-26 season to 32 renewed sci fi and fantasy entries (57% of shows tracked) vs. 14 cancelled and ending (25%). You can see the breakdown of the numbers and the full list of shows for the current and prior seasons on our Cancellation Watch Page.
The Testaments takes place years after the events of The Handmaid’s Tale, and it follows a new generation of young women growing up under the oppressive rule of Gilead. The story centers primarily on Agnes, the daughter of June Osborne who has been raised within Gilead’s rigid society, and Daisy, a teenage girl from outside its borders whose life becomes tied to the resistance movement. As they navigate an elite school designed to prepare girls to become obedient wives, the two begin uncovering secrets about Gilead and their own pasts, setting them on a path toward rebellion against the regime. It stars Chase Infiniti, Lucy Halliday, Mabel Li, Brad Alexander, Isolde Ardies, and Ann Dowd, and it is based on the book of the same name by Margaret Atwood.
We are coming to the end of the current season, and there are still quite a few shows waiting for word on their fates. Be be sure to stay tuned to CancelledSciFi.com and our social media sites for the latest updates on all the current sci fi and fantasy shows.
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