25 modern book-to-screen adaptations that didn’t let us down

The Handmaid’s Tale

Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale is a modern classic, and Hulu’s take on her story is both accurate to the original work and more expansive than the novel could ever have hoped to be. The fact that the series never lost sight of Atwood’s message probably has a lot to do with how genuine it feels when it comes to the feminist message it puts forth — that, and the fact that the first season does seem to hit all the beats that the novel does.

Of course, given that the show is coming up on its fourth season and the novel isn’t even 500 pages long, the Hulu adapation was bound to move on from the original subject matter eventually. Even with new storylines and characters cropping up, though, the series remains as powerful and harrowing as readers could hope for. And if anything, the expanded plot allows fans to get a better feel for the world Atwood built, along with some much-needed closure in regard to Offred’s character (or June, if you prefer).

And whatever your feelings on the adaptation for The Handmaid’s Tale are, one good thing has definitely emerged from its existence. It pushed Atwood to do something she always wanted to do: to write a sequel to her 1985 novel, allowing readers to see how she would have built upon her own story. The Testaments hits shelves in September, and we might just have the Hulu series to thank for that.