**Spoilers below**
Season two of Hulu's The Handmaid's Tale ended with June (Elisabeth Moss) deciding to stay behind in dystopian Gilead in order to rescue her daughter Hannah, while Emily (Alexis Bledel) fled to Canada with June's baby, Nicole.
That was some plot twist, but it's nothing compared to all the wild twists and turns fans can expect from The Handmaid's Tale season 3.
"She cannot leave her daughter [Hannah] there," Moss told The Hollywood Reporter of the plot twist. "She doesn't know if she can get back in if she leaves. What can she do from the outside? She doesn't know. But here's what she does know. She just discovered that there's a legitimate and strong underground network of Marthas working for the resistance."
Here's everything you need to know about The Handmaid's Tale season 3 (so far):
Because Hulu is as cruel as the Gilead government (jk jk), they've been teasing fans with the release date since February when they posted this Instagram.
View this post on Instagram June 5. #WakeUp A post shared by The Handmaid's Tale (@handmaidsonhulu) on Feb 11, 2019 at 9:00am PST
In the immortal words of another #iconic TV character, Kelly Kapoor: "I have a question. How dare you?"
The first official trailer, released during the 2019 Super Bowl, spoofs Ronald Reagan's 1984 "Morning in America" reelection campaign ad. Less than halfway through the teaser, the calming voice-over takes a dark turn and the romanticized images of Gilead (which, ICYMI, used to be America) is interrupted by a chilling march of handmaids in Washington (look familiar?).
"Wake up America, morning's over," June says in the trailer's final seconds.
Washington D.C. residents and tourists could witness the TV show filming in the national's capital early this year, per the Washington Post .
Producers reportedly told the publication that in addition to the Washington Monument appearing as a cross, "Lincoln will literally be blasted out of his chair and hundreds of CGI handmaids will be stationed down the memorials steps and along the reflecting pool." You can catch a glimpse of all that in the teaser above (just don't blink).
According to Variety , SVU's Christopher Meloni and the Haunting of Hill House's Elizabeth Reaser will guest star as Gilead power-couple Commander and Mrs. Winslow.
Rita (Amanda Brugel) will also be returning, and fans might get to learn more about her backstory pre-Gilead. "Im hoping next season were going to find out a lot more about her," Brugel told Vulture. "I have my ideas about who I think she is, though. She was a lawyer or someone extremely successful."
As for Aunt Lydia, producer Warren Littlefield told EW she survived her knife attack. But her attack at the hands of Emily means she's going to be tougher than ever on the handmaids. "I dont think there are forces in the world strong enough to kill Aunt Lydia," showrunner Bruce Miller told IndieWire .
"It makes her double down that she feels like she just wasn't strong enough in her discipline," he said. "So she, I think, has decided it's time to get tough." (Cringing already.)
And it's about time. Miller told IndieWire that Moira (Samira Wiley) is one of his favorite characters in literature, and he wanted to find a way to include more of her life in Canada.
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View this post on Instagram A post shared by Samira Wiley (@whododatlikedat) on Jun 13, 2017 at 7:07pm PDT
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If that happens, fans will likely get to see more of Luke, June's husband before she became a handmaid, too. "Luke had died in the book, but Luke in the show-O.T. [Fagbenle]-has just brought him to life in a way that makes him feel like a real person, not like an on-screen hero," he said. "And its been a very brave performance. And Id like to explore all of that more." (Here. For. It.)
According to Deadline, actor Bradley Whitford's contract was upped to series regular. Commander Lawrence was introduced during the last two episodes of season two, when he helped Alexis Bledel's character Emily escape from Gilead.
As one of the architects of Gilead, he's in an unique position, and consequently, viewers will learn more about his backstory this season. "I mean, he is a designer of Gilead, and now, he is seeing what it can do. So he is a mass of contradictions and dangers," Miller told The Wrap . "...You never know what he's willing to do, what he's not willing to do."
Miller told TV Insider that June has had enough of Gilead (I can relate) and is willing to fight to get her daughter Hannah back. "The season is about resistance-June resisting and June fighting. After a couple of seasons of being beaten down, shes had quite enough. Shes finding ways to rebel."
"She's ready to rise up and ready to take some chances and use all the skills she's learned over the last three years that she's developed in Gilead: the survival skills, the manipulation skills, just the strategic skills that she's learned," M iller told THR . "She's going to bring them all to bear on hurting Gilead and also helping her daughter, helping Hannah."
Season 3 will mainly focus on June's journey (okay, fair), but don't worry, you'll also find out what happens to her baby and Emily, too. "There's a lot of people who want [June's baby], including the whole country of Gilead-if she happens to get out," Miller said, per CNN . "So I think it's a huge puzzle piece of our world... she's the next generation that they're all doing all of this for."
In season 2, viewers got to see what happens to the women sent to labor in the Colonies (spoiler alert: it sucks). With season 3, "I would really like to return to Jezebels," Miller told IndieWire , referring to the infamous Gilead brothel.
"The machinations of that place were so fascinating all the sin in Gilead is going through there," he continued. "The drugs and the black market stuff, and sex-and sex as trade-and perversity, and all sorts of heretical sexual gains... its a mess."
The Handmaid's Tale's author Margaret Atwood announced last November that a long-awaited sequel to her original novel is set to publish on September 10th. It will be called The Testaments. Blessed be the fruit, amirite?
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