Is the Legend of the Handmaid in Gilead a Real Place? Recording Location Defined
Hulu The Handmaid’s Tale again Testaments The spinoff is set in the Republic of Gilead – but is it a real place?
Based on Margaret Atwoodthe novel of the same name, The Handmaid’s Talewhich aired from 2017 to 2025, takes place in a dystopian future where low fertility rates lead women to be assigned to men for bearing children.
The series has a star Elisabeth Moss, Yvonne Strahovski, Madeline Brewer, Ann Dowd, OT Fagbenle, Max Minghella, Samira Wiley again Amanda Brugel. On screen, the show described Gilead as a place built after the Second American Civil War.
The Republic of Gilead included parts of what used to be the US with complete work taking place in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts.
Some areas are considered conflict zones while the remaining American government fled to Canada with other American refugees.
Off-screen, filming for the series took place mainly in Toronto, Mississauga, Brantford, Hamilton, Burlington, Oakville and Cambridge, Ontario. Season two featured many of the same locations while season 3 included scenes in Washington, DC
The Handmaid’s Tale expands its TV universe with Testamentsnarrated by Ann Dowd’s Aunt Lydia as viewers are taken back to a dystopian future with characters like Agnes of Gilead and Daisy of Canada – as they secretly collect and smuggle incriminating information about the Gilead empire out of the country. Agnes and Daisy pose as the “Pearl Girls” to sneak into Canada, while Aunt Lydia works as an undercover source in Gilead.
“We are making a Testament, and it cannot be traced precisely,” the creator Bruce Miller 2022 told TVLine. “Margaret is writing these special characters. We had to get away from that in Handmaid, and we have to get away from what’s in Testament. Testament is going to be a sequel to the show.”
Hulu Hulu’s highly anticipated The Handmaid’s Tale spinoff Testament is in the works — but what’s there to know about the show so far? Margaret Atwood’s dystopian universe first came to life with The Handmaid’s Tale, based on the novel of the same name about a future where fertility is low. […]
Recently, The Handmaid’s Tale the show Yahlin Chang he teased how the show was set up Testamentstold TV Insider in March 2025, “Sure, there will be cliffhangers in Testament, so it’s not over.”
The sixth season of The Handmaid’s Tale it tied together some plot points in “very satisfying ways.”
“Any fans left wanting more will get more from Testament, which will be great for them,” Chang continued. “But it ends in ways that are very satisfying for many of the story lines, but not for each one.”
Testaments premieres April 8 on Hulu.
