The Handmaid’s Tale just finished up its third season which, as always, left audiences at the edge of their seat. Margaret Atwood’s famed novel adaptation has been revisited time and time again, but none as effective as the original Hulu series. While the showrunners have Atwood’s penned ideals to thrive off of, the show does much more to find its way into the hearts of modern audiences.
It takes viewers with a strong stomach and a sturdy mindset to get through the dire circumstances that surround June in her role as a handmaid. Elisabeth Moss takes the lead as June a.k.a Offred, showing audiences exactly what it takes to survive Gilead. The rest of the nail-biting rhythmic that comes from the show is thanks to the intricate details embossed by the show’s creators. Take into consideration these 10 facts about the making of The Handmaid’s Tale.
Margaret Atwood Makes A Cameo
Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale was published in 1985. At the time, the novel’s plot was righteously taboo, bringing forth old school values that subsequently paralleled the rising concerns of equality. Still, the topic didn’t stop schools from assigning the novel as a read for high school students. It even caught the attention of film producers who fastened it into the 1990 film of the same name.
That being said, the Hulu series is the first time that Atwood actually makes a cameo in her own work. She appears in the first episode of the pilot season. The author appears as an Aunt who slaps Offred during the group shaming circle.
Everything That Happens Is Based On History
Atwood prides her novel on the fact that most of the atrocious circumstances are based on real-life events. Believe it or not, the patriarchal theocracy is only a supposed work of science fiction. In fact, the author adamantly dismisses the genre of sci-fi, stating that “every building in the book has its counterpart in reality.”
The harsh murders (hangings, stoning, etc) and the laws concerning the women of Gilead all came directly from Atwood’s research in the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library at the University of Toronto. In other words, many of these situations are derived from real-life occurrences that are recorded in several books.
Offred Doesn’t Actually Have A Name
In the Hulu version of The Handmaid’s Tale, audiences learn that Offred has a real name. She goes by June, although this name is “forbidden now." In the book, however, Offred doesn’t actually have a name. She is only referred to by her handmaid’s name (i.e. Offred). And in the 1990 film, her name is Kate.
The Hulu show gives her the name of June because that is what many readers had interpreted her name to be based on Atwood’s writings. Atwood admitted in an article for the New York Times that the name “was not my original thought but it fits, so readers are welcome to it if they wish."
Inspiration For The Handmaid’s Clothes
The handmaid’s uniforms are absolutely outdated, and what’s more, they are an astonishing, deep red color. There are actually a few different reasons for these styling choices in the Hulu show. The color and styling are drawn from Mary Magdalene. Mary is a Biblical figure who walked alongside Jesus.
However, she is better known as a repentant prostitute. Red is also, of course, representative of blood. Plus, the brilliant colored garb makes it easier to spot any handmaid trying to run away. Likewise, the Wive’s costumes are blue as a symbolic measure of purity and the Virgin Mary.
Joseph Fiennes Refused To Do One Scene
Joseph Fiennes plays Commander Waterford in the disturbing television series. He has had to procure a few damaging scenes, the most intense of which involves the atypical rape of his handmaid. Even though Fiennes is no stranger to filming these atrocious scenes, he refused to film one that was written into the script. It involved Commander Waterford raping his wife.
This was supposed to happen in season two, but Fiennes argued that it was out of character for Waterford in that particular moment in time. Fiennes told the showrunners that, although Waterford is a rapist, he does not do it spontaneously or without reason. Whatever else he may have said apparently won the showrunners over because the scene was cut from the script.
Why Serena Names The Baby Nicole
Another behind-the-scenes fun fact is the reason behind the Waterford baby‘s name. Immediately after giving birth to her first Gilead child, June names the baby Holly after her mother. However, by the end of the second season when she gives up her baby to freedom, she insists that the baby is called Nichole, which is what Serena Joy (Waterford) names the baby.
It isn’t abundantly clear why June switched the name, but it could be because she saw the irony in the name that Serena gave her. The name Nichole is strikingly similar to Nicholas, which is the name of the baby‘s biological father. Apparently, Serena gives her this name as a passive aggressive measure to remind her husband that he isn’t really the baby’s father.
Gilead Comes From The Bible
Like many of the Easter eggs in Atwood’s novel, the term Gilead is derived directly from the Bible. Gilead is the purgatory remnants of what was once the United States. Atwood named the new regime after the Biblical source called “The Republic of Gilead.” It’s a geographic location in the Bible, which is associated with segregation and immortality. In the Book of Hosea, it says, “Gilead is the city of those who work in equity, it is stained with blood.“
Amanda Brugel’s Deep Connection To The Story
Amanda Brugel, who plays Rita in the Hulu version of The Handmaid’s Tale is a fan of Atwood’s story, to put it mildly. When she was in high school, she was assigned to read The Handmaid’s Tale She was only fifteen at the time, but she was so enamored with it that she wrote short stories about it. Brugel then applied to a university with a thesis on the novel and subsequently received a full scholarship. The entire essay mainly focused on one character from Atwood’s book.
The character was Rita.
The Original Characters Weren’t So Diverse
In the original story of The Handmaid’s Tale, any race other than white is sent away to the Midwest, which essentially eliminated all non-caucasian races from the novel. Although the concept falls in line with Gilead’s racist agenda, TV producers thought it would be best to eliminate this concept from the screen adaptation.
Likewise, there were no explicitly gay characters in the book. Emily a.k.a. Ofglen didn’t have a wife or any sexual orientation in Atwood’s book. However, the author is now delighted at these changes. She told Vanity Fair, “It’s very now. In the series, she, number one, gay, and number two, she had a wife. You could have said that in 1985. It wouldn’t have made any sense. People were talking that way. But they are now, so that makes sense.”
The Toughest Set Was The Grocery Store
One of the main disassociations in this story is that women lose their eligibility to read and write. When set designers were put to the task to create the world of Gilead, they had to ensure this rule remained cohesive, even in the background. This meant they were put to the difficult task of creating the grocery store. If you look closely, you’ll notice that every single label negates the use of words and instead uses pictures and original labels to identify the products. This took a lot of tedious work, but it helps make the world of Gilead more realistic.
Apparently, the juxtaposition of a modern, real-world grocery store with the condemning structure of the new realm was jarring to some of the cast who found the grocery set to be “creepy."
