Two very different but fan-favorite series have just been ordered by Hulu and Paramount+: the former has commissioned The Testaments, a follow-up to The Handmaid’s Tale, and Paramount has commissioned a second season of the Dexter spin-off Dexter: Original Sin.
Production of The Testaments will begin this week on April 7 but there are no dates for Original Sin just yet.
What do we know so far about The Testaments?
Based once again on the books by Margaret Atwood, The Testaments takes place 15 years after The Handmaid’s Tale in the bleak theocracy of Gilead.
Elisabeth Moss is executive producing, and Deadline says that the hope is for her to guest star in the sequel by reprising her role as June Osborne.
That’s not guaranteed, though. The Handmaid’s Tale starts its final season on April 8, and the story that tells may or may not make it impossible for June to return.
The new drama is a coming-of-age story centred on a new generation of young Gilead women. In addition to the principal cast of Chase Infiniti as Agnes, Lucy Halliday as Daisy, Ann Dowd as Aunt Lydia, Rowan Blanchard as Shunammite and Mattea Conforti as Becka, it also introduces nine new actors: Mabel Li, Amy Seimetz, Brad Alexander, Zarrin Darnell-Martin, Eva Foote, Isolde Ardies, Shechinah Mpumlwana, Birva Pandya, and Kira Guloien.
These young women have never known life before Gilead, and the show follows their battle to find freedom.
Expectations are really high for this series: The Handmaid’s Tale seasons 1-5 have been excellent and reviews for the book The Testaments were glowing. Writing in The Guardian, Anne Enright said “The Testaments is Atwood at her best… to read this book is to feel the world turning”.
What do we know so far about Dexter: Original Sin season 2?
Dexter: Original Sin isn’t quite so literary and it’s a lot less dystopian. As with the first season it stars Patrick Gibson as the titular killer in his late teen years, with events taking place roughly 15 years before the original series begins.
Season 1 was set in 1991 Miami where Dexter is refining his slaying skills with the help of adoptive dad Harry, played by Christian Slater. Harry teaches him a killing code and how to avoid being caught by the cops – which comes in handy as Dexter hsa just started interning at the Miami Metro PD.
Although the show has attracted fairly middling reviews it was Showtime‘s most-streamed series in 10 years so a sequel was highly likely.
If you’ve already enjoyed season one and can’t wait for the writers to finish your next Dexter fix, you can stream Dexter: New Blood, starring Michael C Hall, on Paramount+in the US, UK and Australia. The original Dexter is on Netflix in the US and UK.
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