The Handmaid’s Tale Hulu Show vs. Book: Biggest Differences

The Handmaid’s Tale has kept viewers on the edge of their seats since its debut on Hulu — but how does the TV adaptation compare to the original book?

Based on Margaret Atwood’s novel of the same name, The Handmaid’s Tale takes place in a dystopian future where low fertility rates have resulted in women being forcefully assigned to men for the sole purpose of bearing children. Elisabeth Moss, Yvonne Strahovski, Madeline Brewer, Ann Dowd, O-T Fagbenle, Max Minghella, Samira Wiley and Amanda Brugel have led the cast since the show’s premiere.

Hulu went on to renew the series for six seasons — and it doesn’t stop there. The universe is expanding with an adaptation of Atwood’s 2019 novel The Testaments. It was previously announced that Hulu and MGM were developing the sequel series, but the network and the studio have yet to release any additional updates.

Atwood, meanwhile, has previously discussed her role as a consulting producer on the hit Hulu series — including how little control she has over the script.

“None of this was in any way under my control,” she told attendees at the Hay literary festival in 2018 about how the rights of the book were acquired by the distributors of the 1989 film version of The Handmaid’s Tale. “Even if I had thrown a tantrum and said you can’t do this, that would have had no legal standing.”

Despite the lack of creative control, the author fiercely supported the show and its cultural impact, adding at the time, “I think I would have to be awfully stupid to resent it because things could have been so much worse. They have done a tippety-top job, The acting is great, they’ve stuck to the central set of premises.”

While the show has somewhat veered from the book starting with season 2, Atwood understood the reasoning.

“It’s a TV series. If you’re going to have a series you can’t kill off the central character and you also can’t have the central character escape to safety in episode one of season 2,” she noted. “It’s not going to happen.”

Keep scrolling for the main differences between the show and Atwood’s version:

Moving Away From the Book

The biggest shift away from the book’s origin came after season 1. In season 2, Hulu’s version of The Handmaid’s Tale started to rely on plot lines that hinged on the show expanding the world and the characters from Atwood’s original dystopian concept, allowing the adaptation to continue for six seasons.

Offred’s Name

Atwood made it a priority not to confirm the real names of the handmaids — because they are named from the household they are given to, the novel wanted their past before Gilead to remain more of a mystery. The TV series, however, revealed that Moss’ character was named June before being assigned Offred, which represents her being given to Commander Fred Waterford (Fiennes). The change heightened June’s determination to gain back her freedom.

The Waterford Family

The Handmaid’s Tale series cast Strahovski and Fiennes as members of the Waterford family. That was a big shift from the novel, which depicted the Waterfords as an older couple. Their age contributed to Serena Joy’s (Strahovski) inability to have kids. By aging Serena down, her dynamic and support for Gilead has made her more of a central villain.

Nick’s Role in the Story — and June’s Life

Max Minghella has played Nick a.k.a a driver for the Commanders of Gilead since the show debuted in 2017. The character ultimately developed a romantic connection with June, which served as motivation for him to help the victims of Gilead. The book version of Nick wasn’t explored in as much detail, arguably making his motivations harder for readers to decipher.

Growing the World

Creating six seasons of a show means there’s more time and room for character development. As a result, side characters — including Aunt Lydia (Ann Dowd) — are explored more in an effort to show how Gilead formed and the ramifications of trying to go against the rules. Atwood’s novel, meanwhile, spent more time elevating Offred’s journey, in part because there wasn’t room for the story to explore more points of view.

Considering the Time Period

Atwood’s book was published in 1985, before certain technological advancements like smartphones and tracking devices. The Handmaid’s Tale took advantage of telling the story in a more modern era by leaning into the developments that have been made and having the show take place in the present instead of back in the ’80s.