Have you heard that thing people have been saying? About how The Handmaid’s Tale feels horrifyingly relevant 30ish years after it was published? Truly, when you consider the religious fervor over right to life, the fight for control over reproductive rights, and the demand for equality and bodily autonomy for women across all fronts during one of the most politically fraught eras in America’s short history, you’ll surely start to see the parallels to Maraget Atwood’s dystopian future novel and its new Hulu series adaptation.
And should you need more convincing, check out the recent character posters for the series, which feature slogans you could’ve easily seen at the Women’s March earlier this year. If you needed any more proof that this series is one hell of a horror show, these stirring images should do the trick. (Check ’em all out in full in our gallery below!)
Featuring the nine members of the main cast—including Elisabeth Moss, Yvonne Strahovski, Samira Wiley, Ann Dowd, Alexis Bledel, Joseph Fiennes, Madeline Brewster, O-T Fagbenle, and Max Minghella—the images both embody the characters and showcase the muddied world in which these handmaids live, where emotions are fraught and perilously high. Given that fear and distrust are how the Republic of Gilead (a.k.a. post-democracy America) control its subjects, the new posters do a damn good job at reminding us just how terribly real the basis of the series feels for some women in our modern times.
Of course, maybe if we had a good Aunt Lydia type in our life, we’d feel a lot different.
Are you watching The Handmaid’s Tale? Let us know in the comments below, and don’t let the bastards get you down.
Images: Hulu
Alicia Lutes is the Managing Editor of Nerdist, creator/host of Fangirling!, and frequent over-user of Twitter.
