The Handmaid’s Tale Season 4 Delayed to 2021

Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale fourth season premiere has been pushed to 2021. The announcement came during Hulu‘s virtual NewFronts presentation (via The Wrap) and, at this time, an exact date for the popular series’ return has not been set. The Handmaid’s Tale is just the latest entertainment offering to see its premiere delayed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic as, back in March, production on the fourth season of the Elisabeth Moss-starring dystopian drama was halted due to the pandemic. It’s also not clear at this time when production on the series will resume.

The Handmaid’s Tale has been a very popular series for Hulu and was initially renewed for a fourth season ahead of the Season 3 finale in 2019. The series has also done very well in terms of critics and awards, winning 11 Emmys over two seasons. Inspired by the Margaret Atwood novel of the same name, the third season saw Moss’ character, June, remain behind in Gilead after sending her newborn infant daughter to safety in Canada. The season ended on a bit of a cliffhanger with June and other handmaids helping liberate children from Gilead by getting them out via plane to Canada, though June is shot in the process and while she is alive at the end of the season, her situation seems dire.

As for what’s next in Season 4, that remains a bit of a mystery, though Moss told ComicBook.com earlier this year that The Handmaid’s Tale is ultimately June’s story and that when her journey ends, so will the series.

“It’s not up to me, but I think that we all agree that this is the story of one woman and it’s not the story of Gilead,” Moss shared with ComicBook.com of the series’ trajectory. “We’re tracking her story and we’re taking care of her story and it will be up at some point. I think that we keep that as our guideline. When we feel like that story has been told, then it will be over.”

That said, there could be more about Gilead to explore — without June — in a different series. Last fall saw the debut of Atwood’s sequel novel, The Testaments, which took place 15 years after the events of the original novel, though long before its predecessor’s epilogue. Ahead of that book’s release, Hulu and MGM announced that they would be developing a new series inspired by that book, with showrunner Bruce Miller at the helm.

In addition to Moss, the series stars Joseph Fiennes, Yvonne Strahovski, Samira Wiley, Alexis Bledel, Ann Dowd, Max Minghella, Madeline Brewer, O-T Fagbenle, Amanda Brugel and Bradley Whitford.

Are you disappointed that the fourth season of The Handmaid’s Tale has been delayed until 2021? Let us know in the comments below.