The Handmaid’s Tale sequel The Testaments being adapted for TV before even being released

THE eagerly-anticipated sequel to bestseller The Handmaid's Tale has been snapped up for a TV adaptation, before it's even been released.

The novel by Margaret Atwood will be adapted by US streaming service, Hulu, who also turned The Handmaid's Tale into an award-winning TV series.

The book hits shelves on Tuesday and is already on the shortlist for the 2019 Booker prize, so it's guaranteed to be as big as smash as its predecessor, which was released in 1985.

But fans of The Handmaid's Tale, which just finished screening its third series in the UK on Channel 4 last Sunday, will be disappointed to learn that the sequel does not revolve around heroine June, played by Elisabeth Moss.

Instead the sequel, set 15 years after the events in the Handmaid's Tale, follows the fortunes of June's two daughters, Agnes (originally called Hannah) and Nicole.

This means that the new show is likely to feature a new set of actors, although Ann Dowd, who plays the tyrannical Aunt Lydia, may crossover into The Testaments as she is one of the few characters who makes the jump.

Aunt Lydia is one of the main narrators of The Testaments, alternating chapters with Agnes and Nicole, as she writes diary entries about the fall of Gilead.

In the new story, Aunt Lydia has turned her back on the wicked dictatorship and seen the light, reflecting on some of the shocking things she did at the height of the regime.

Steve Stark, MGM’s president of television production, said after the news broke of the latest adaptation: “Margaret Atwood is a literary icon who continues to delight and challenge readers through her provocative and compelling prose.

"She has been an incredible creative partner and resource to MGM throughout the production of Handmaid’s and we look forward to working with her on the story’s exciting next chapter.”

The TV version of The Handmaid's Tale has already moved past the events of the accompanying book.

Season one ended at the same point the the novel did, so the following two seasons have been written with Atwood's guidance.

The Handmaid's Tale has sold more than 8 million copies in English alone.

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