5 Major Differences Between The Handmaid’s Tale Show and Novel, Explained
Hulu’s hit dystopian series is considered a pretty faithful adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, yet it still drifts away for quite many purposes — here’s where you might find some surprising inconsistencies.
Even with the original source laid out right there, The Handmaid’s Tale does distance itself from the book in some aspects, sometimes for good and sometimes for bad — but anyway, these are the changes that still have the show’s fans talking.
The Handmaid’s Tale Expands the Novel’s Narrative
This might be one of the first significant differences that fans of the original book notice right since the first season.
Naturally, the novel starts off with Offred already being a maid, only giving a hindsight thanks to some flashbacks of the character’s memories related to Luke or Hannah.
In the TV series, however, the story grows way bigger and leaves the original premise only for the first season, later on diverting to other major characters’ background stories.
June Osborne Might Exist in the TV Series Only
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Even though in both novel and show Elizabeth Moss’ character goes under the name of Offred, the series also reveals her real name she was known under before getting to Gilead, while the book never cares enough about her past, simply referring to her as Offred.
However, Atwood does mention some of the women’s names in the first chapter, with June also being one of those, but never appearing even once again; this might have become a reason for the show’s creators to consider June the real name of Offred.
The Waterfords Are Looking Better in the Show
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Hulu ’s series also gives a significant boost to the entire story’s main villains, Fred and Serena Joy Waterford.
In Atwood’s novel, both are described respectively as a grey-haired man that might seem like a Midwestern bank president and an old mean woman with a cane; in the show, however, they looked way different (and much better).
The only common point the book’s fans will recognise is that Serena in fact is infertile and is desperate to get herself a child, which is what causes some major trouble for her in Gilead too.
The TV Show’s Population Diversity Is at Its Finest
While Atwood’s novel follows only white men and women in Gilead after people of colour were driven away from the society, Hulu’s series makes the whole tragedy even bigger by inserting a diverse leading cast into the main storyline.
In there, it’s pretty clear that the dystopian future is getting into everyone’s life, with African-American and LGBTQ+ community members also dealing with the government’s issues.
It might be that this change was intended by the show’s creators just to demonstrate that, unlike in the real world, the homophobic attitude isn’t a problem that big even in the full-mode dystopia.
Luke Is Always There in the TV Series — in the Novel He’s Not
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Probably trying to focus more on what women have to endure in a new world where quite literally everything is against them, Atwood left Offred’s former husband Luke behind, not even giving enough information about him to be sure whether he’s alive or not.
The book gets back to the character a couple of times when Offred suddenly remembers about Luke and wonders where he might be right now, but that’s it.
In the show, however, he is a pretty big part of the whole story, eventually becoming one of those to check in on people who managed to escape from Gilead.
Where to Watch The Handmaid’s Tale Season 6?
The Handmaid’s Tale is currently in its final season, with new episodes coming out every week until May. You can watch them on Hulu.
