The Handmaid's Tale is an American dystopian television series based on the 1985 novel of the same name by Canadian author Margaret Atwood. The series was ordered by Hulu as a straight-to-series order of ten episodes, for which production began in late 2016. The first three episodes of the series premiered on April 26, 2017; the subsequent seven episodes were released every Wednesday. In July 2019, the series was renewed for a fourth season, which aired on April 27, 2021. In September 2020, ahead of the fourth season premiere, it was announced that Hulu and MGM were developing a sequel series, to be based on Atwood's 2019 novel The Testaments.