While plenty of movie trailers drop during the Super Bowl, this year Hulu is doing something unprecedented by releasing a teaser trailer for its original series The Handmaid’s Tale, according to The Verge. But you don’t have to watch the game to see the teaser; Hulu posted it online today.
At a little over 30 seconds, it’s as long as the first teaser, and has a lot of the same disturbing imagery. But it also builds upon the dystopian world with just a few striking images: Offred (Elisabeth Moss) and the Commander (Joseph Fiennes) after the Ceremony; barren Wife Serena Joy (Yvonne Strahovski); how other citizens of the Republic of Gilead interact with the Handmaids, from Aunts to doctors; and how the Handmaids enact their own justice.
And this exchange, between Offred and the Commander:
“We only wanted to make the world better.”
“Better.”
“Better never means better for everyone.”
The official synopsis:
Adapted from the classic novel by Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale is the story of life in the dystopia of Gilead, a totalitarian society in what was formerly the United States. Facing environmental disasters and a plunging birthrate, Gilead is ruled by a twisted fundamentalism in its militarized “return to traditional values.” As one of the few remaining fertile women, Offred (Elisabeth Moss) is a Handmaid in the Commander’s household, one of the caste of women forced into sexual servitude as a last desperate attempt to repopulate the world. In this terrifying society, Offred must navigate between Commanders, their cruel Wives, domestic Marthas, and her fellow Handmaids—where anyone could be a spy for Gilead—all with one goal: to survive and find the daughter that was taken from her.
The Handmaid’s Tale premieres April 26 on Hulu.