The Testaments Drops on Hulu: Exact Release Time and Complete Episode Schedule

Well, here comes another return trip to Gilead, whether we’re emotionally ready for it or not. Hulu is gearing up for The Testaments, a direct follow-up to The Handmaid's Tale, and they’ve officially locked in a premiere window: spring 2026. If you thought the original was heavy, you can probably guess this one won’t be a breezy romcom either.

So, What is ‘The Testaments’?

This new series is based on Margaret Atwood’s 2019 novel, set about 15 years after Offred’s saga in The Handmaid's Tale. Bruce Miller (yep, the same guy who brought you the original show) is running the show again, but the story’s shifted: Chase Infiniti stars as Agnes MacKenzie, a teenager groomed for “wife school” in the regime. If that sounds fun, it’s not. Agnes is the new protagonist wrestling with strange memories of her past, which, if you know the original series, tie back to some pretty big reveals (fans of the show will recognize her by a different name: Hannah Bankole).

The series isn’t an entirely fresh start—it’s loaded with callbacks and familiar faces. Ann Dowd’s Aunt Lydia is still running things, now recruiting a new batch of “promising” girls into Gilead’s elite prep school for future wives. Naturally, things don’t go as planned, and Aunt Lydia, who has never met a hard line she didn’t cross, tries to steer the academy after she realizes her reforms are failing spectacularly.

Along for the ride: Agnes befriends Daisy (Lucy Halliday), a Canadian teen whose family has their own grim Gilead backstory. Add in Shunammite (Rowan Blanchard)—one of the privileged girls caught up in all this—and we’ve got a trio ready to push back against Gilead’s machinery. So, rebellions, secrets, and more than a few callbacks to past trauma… business as usual for this franchise, basically.

Release Strategy—More of the Same, by Design

The Handmaid's Tale finally wrapped up in May 2025 after six seasons. If you followed along, you know Hulu can’t decide whether to drop two or three episodes at launch, but for The Testaments, they’re keeping it classic.

• The first three episodes drop all at once on Wednesday, April 8, 2026.
• Every Wednesday after that, you get one new episode a week.
• It’s a clean, 10-episode run, stretching from April 8 to May 27, 2026.
• They’re really going for a neat symmetry here—both the premiere and the season finale line up exactly one year after The Handmaid’s Tale wrapped up. (If you’re into numerology or just like a well-planned calendar, I guess that’s a perk?)

Who’s Calling the Shots?

The season is loaded with talent behind the camera—especially if you liked the original’s style. Mike Barker, who directed a dozen episodes of The Handmaid’s Tale, returns for the first three episodes and the finale. He’s setting the tone early with episodes titled 'Precious Flower', 'Perfect Teeth', and 'Daisy'.

Other directors stepping in:

Quyen Tran (known for Sirens and The Pitt) takes over for episodes 4 ('Green Tea') and 5. Jet Wilkinson directs 6 and 7, and Shana Stein steps in for episodes 8 and 9. If you’re a credits-watcher, these are names that keep popping up in prestige TV.

By the way, Hulu hasn’t even revealed most of the episode titles yet. That level of secrecy? Par for the course. But, fun fact: the first three and the finale are all firmly in Barker’s hands.

The Big Picture

In all, it’s very much what you’d expect: another deeply dystopian (but sharply written) trip into Margaret Atwood’s world, star-studded with returning actors and pieced together by TV veterans who know their way around an oppressive regime. If you survived The Handmaid’s Tale and need more Gilead (psychological damage and all), just circle April 8th, 2026, on your calendar.

'The first three episodes of The Testaments will air on Hulu on Wednesday, April 8, 2026.'

So, get ready for more anxiety-inducing drama. Whether it lives up to the original or not—well, that’s always the gamble with spinoffs. But with this lineup and that Michael Barker touch, it’s promising (and probably going to be rough on the emotions).