Two novels, two series and one film, and the film is not part of any of it.
Start with the Hulu series in 2017, not with the 1990 film and not with the novel. The film and the series are two separate adaptations of the same book, so the film is not a prequel, a sequel or a missing chapter. It is the other version, and watching it first tells you the ending of the only part the series takes straight from the page.
Seen some of these already? Tap the circles to tick them off. The full list below fills in as you go.
Ten episodes in 2017, and the only season that follows the novel closely. It ends roughly where Atwood's book ends, which is why everything after it is new material.
Fifty six more episodes, through to the finale on 27 May 2025. From season two on, the series is writing past the novel rather than adapting it.
Ten episodes from 8 April 2026, picking up fifteen years later. It continues the series you have just watched, not the 2019 novel on its own, so it only works after the main show.
Then what? The 1990 film is worth an evening once you have finished, as a look at what the same book became in different hands. Harold Pinter wrote the screenplay and then tried to have his name taken off it. The two novels are the other way round: read The Handmaid's Tale whenever you like, but leave The Testaments until after the series, because the series spends six seasons answering questions the novel answers in a few pages.
A suggested way in, not an official one. The full list is below: tick anything off in either place.
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All three are about this franchise and all three are for showing, not moving. The link and the picture open SagaList with that progress displayed next to whatever the person opening it has already ticked. The code is what a friend pastes into Compare below. None of them writes anything into anybody's list.
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