15 things we didn't know about The Handmaid’s Tale

I'll take you back to last Thursday, when team Amayzine was on the edge of my couch watching the final episode of The Handmaid’s Tale “Offred, are you really doing this? GET IN THAT CAR, NOW!!!! I want to be Aunt Lydia, then you really have the best. No man, I cook and wash all day like a Martha.” We can't stop talking about the ending of season 2, and that same evening we start a research club after Annick let us know that there might be 8, 9, or even 10 seasons to follow. What else did we not know about The Handmaid’s Tale? We have listed them for you.

1. All the bizarre things you see in the series actually happened. For example, writer Margaret Atwood says she had a rule for herself that she could not write anything that had not already been done by a human.
2. Reed Morano directed the first three episodes of season 1, which you might know as the cinematographer of Beyoncé's Lemonade video.
3. You may have noticed that the Commander and Serena Joy have famous artworks hanging on the wall. The idea is that the Commander and Serena stole all their favorite paintings from the Boston Museum of Modern Art (the Nazis used to do this too). Since Serena is a watercolor painter, she chose a Monet.
4. Offred's real name is never revealed in the book on which The Handmaid’s Tale is based. However, in one scene, the name June is mentioned, leading readers to think this was Offred's name. So June it is.
5. In the series, the Commander and Serena Joy are much younger than in the book. This was done so that Serena has ‘direct competition’ with Offred.
6. The supermarket has the most challenging set of the entire series. This is because it is forbidden to read in Gilead, so all labels had to consist of pictures. The graphic team had to design hundreds of labels for this.
7. The name Offred is symbolic. The name is composed of a male first name, such as Fred, and the part ‘Of’, which indicates ‘the possession of’ and hints at the English word ‘offered’.
8. In 1990, a film was made of the book The Handmaid’s Tale, about which the reviews were, to put it mildly, not very positive. Check out the trailer here.
9. The creators of the series felt it was important that it should be clear that the series takes place in 2017. Therefore, we see Uber, Tinder, and Friends among others, to make it even more realistic and frightening.
10. Elisabeth Moss loved wearing her costume. A comfortable tracksuit is nothing compared to it.
11. Due to the 2016 elections (when Trump became president), the cast suddenly looked at the series in a different way and felt an even greater responsibility to make the show. However, the filming had already started before the elections, so it was by no means a reaction.
12. The story of The Handmaid’s Tale is deliberately set in America. This is because the writer does not find it likely that Canada would ever transition to an extreme totalitarian state. But how funny is it that the series was secretly filmed in Canada.
13. The writer, Margaret Atwood, plays a mini-role in the very first episode of the series as the Aunt who hits Offred.
14. You probably already noticed that no makeup was worn, but the reason behind it is so much more than you thought. Showrunner Bruce Miller says: ‘I felt that the acting is more direct and that every little twitch and twinge was visible. There wasn’t anything between you and the camera.’
15. The average temperature during filming was a staggering -20 degrees in the Canadian winter wonderland.