"The Handmaid's Tale" is about to get much, much worse, according to the Emmy Award-winning show's cast and crew. While Offred will remain in the spotlight, the Hulu series will be moving beyond the novel it is based on to further explore the world and politics of Gilead.
"Season 2 is what happens after you become a little rebellious," showrunner Bruce Miller told Entertainment Weekly about Offred, played by Elizabeth Moss, recent recipient of the Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series.
Season 1 showed Offred slowly becoming less behaved and the upcoming season will follow up on what happens to troublesome handmaids.
Moss herself confirmed that the show is about to get darker. In an interview with Variety in August, she admitted that she "got full body chills" reading season 2's plot outline.
Perhaps what Moss was referring to was the often mentioned but rarely explained "colonies" in the series.
"One of the things we talk so much about in Season 1 is this horrid place called the colonies that they send these women to," Samira Wiley, who plays Offred's friend Moira, told TV Guide. "It's filled with toxic waste, and people are sent there to die, and we're going to go there in season 2, so fun!"
Convicted criminals, homosexual women and women who are unable to bear children are sent to the colonies to clean up radioactive waste, according to the series' source novel, written by Margaret Atwood in 1984. Being sent to these areas is a fate considered worse than death for most characters in Gilead.
Speaking of the novel, the next season will be deviating farther from the book than season 1, according to Miller. Fans need not worry, however, as Atwood will still be heavily involved in the production of the show.
"I think it will be more involving in the second season because we will be in uncharted territories so more invention will have to take place," Atwood told Entertainment Weekly.
"The Handmaid's Tale" will be coming back for its second season on Hulu sometime in 2018.
