‘The Testaments’ will premiere just in time for the 2026 Emmys: See first-look photos of Ann Dowd, Chase Infiniti

Aunt Lydia is back! And so is the long-missing Hannah.

Gold Derby has learned that The Testaments, the highly anticipated spin-off of The Handmaid’s Tale, will debut in April on Hulu and Disney+, just in time to be eligible for the 2026 Emmys. (Note that the Emmy cut-off date is May 31, so only the episodes that air before then will qualify.) A specific premiere date will be announced later.

Ann Dowd won an Emmy Award and a Critics Choice Award for The Handmaid's Tale as the villainous Aunt Lydia, a loyal figure in the Republic of Gilead who oversees the kidnapped women that are used by the male citizens as sexual slaves. Now, several years after the events of The Handmaid's Tale, she'll be working with a new group of women, including Agnes Jemima (Chase Infiniti), who used to go by the name Hannah, aka the long-lost daughter of June Osborne (Elisabeth Moss).

Just like the book that started it all, The Testaments comes from the mind of novelist Margaret Atwood. Her sequel story was published in 2019 and once again takes place in the dystopian theocracy of Gilead. Read on for everything to know about The Testaments.

First-look images

On Dec. 6, Hulu revealed the following first-look images of the Season 1 cast from The Testaments, featuring Ann Dowd as Aunt Lydia and Chase Infiniti (a current Oscar contender for One Battle After Another) as an older Hannah. The ensemble also includes Lucy Halliday, Rowan Blanchard, Mattea Conforti, Isolde Ardies, Shechinah Mpumlwana, and Birva Pandya.

What's the plot?

Hulu said: "The Testaments is a coming-of-age story that finds a new generation of young women in Gilead grappling with the bleak future that awaits them. For these young women, growing up in Gilead is all they have ever known, having no tangible memories of the outside world prior to their indoctrination into this life. Facing the prospect of being married off and living a life of servitude, they will be forced to search for allies, both new and old, to help in their fight for freedom and the life they deserve."

In the novel, main character Aunt Lydia has remained an Aunt under Gilead's rule. Her heroic transformation still stands, and in the novel she feeds information to the United States while secretly completing a memoir that opposes Gilead's beliefs. An older Hannah, living as Agnes, becomes an Aunt (named Victoria) in order to escape an arranged marriage. Having forgotten her origins, she discovers her heritage as a revolutionary handmaid’s daughter, and also discovers her secret half-sister, Nicole (also known as Daisy, played by Halliday).

How did The Handmaid's Tale end?

At the conclusion of The Handmaid’s Tale, which aired May 27, 2025, the resistance group Mayday (in collaboration with the U.S. military) successfully killed remaining Gilead leaders in Boston, thanks to the sacrifice of Commander Lawrence (Bradley Whitford). Janine (Madeline Brewer) was reunited with her daughter Charlotte after being brought to a now-freed Boston by a fully reformed Aunt Lydia and her former mistress, Naomi Lawrence (Ever Carradine).

June was shepherded to the reunion by the U.S. military, and witnessing it solidified her choice to continue the fight against Gilead. She hopes to make her way towards Colorado to free her oldest daughter, Hannah. The final scenes see June return to the old Waterford home to write a book about her experiences in Gilead (the beginning page of Atwood’s original novel).

Will Elisabeth Moss appear on The Testaments?

Currently, Moss' involvement on The Testaments is strictly behind the scenes as an executive producer alongside showrunner and executive producer Bruce Miller. Notably, the character of June does appear in the novel. Other E.P.s are Warren Littlefield, Steve Stark, Shana Stein, Maya Goldsmith, John Weber, Sheila Hockin, Daniel Wilson, Fran Sears, and Mike Barker, who will also direct the first three episodes.

Regarding expectations for June to pop up and take the fight to Colorado, Miller told Gold Derby, "The Testaments is so much about another group of characters in general. And although June has a big stake in it, part of the story is her impotence to do anything about it." She promised that "some of these people [from The Handmaid’s Tale] will pop up again because, in addition to Lydia, there's a lot of people who play roles in this world that would brush up against the story of The Testaments."

Awards History

The Handmaid’s Tale was an awards juggernaut this past decade, winning 15 Emmy Awards (including Best Drama Series), two Golden Globes, and three Critics Choice Awards. The Testaments will have its first chance to prove itself on the awards beat at the 2026 Emmys.

-Additional reporting by Jeff Ewing