Hulu’s dystopian America drama series, The Handmaid’s Tale, made record-breaking return last week. According to Deadline, the season four premiere was the streaming service’s most-watched debut for an original title. The series currently ranks number one overall as Hulu’s most-streamed series since premiering on April 28. Check out the season four trailer below:
According to Deadline, the series boasted a total of one million viewers based on data collected by third-party viewership-monitoring service, Samba TV. Samba TV, which pulls data from connected smart TVs, formulates its rankings by equating a view as watching at least five minutes of a series or film. Previously, Hulu’s original 2020 holiday rom-com, Happiest Season, held the title as its most-watched original film. Starring Kristen Stewart (Underwater, Charlie’s Angels), the movie beat out both family thriller Run and dramedy, Palm Springs.
In comparison, Deadline reports Amazon Prime’s original film, Without Remorse starring Michael B. Jordan (Just Mercy, Chronicle), accumulated a total of 2.3M viewers the weekend of April 30. For a series, Disney+’s The Falcon and The Winter Soldier debuted March 19 to 1.7M viewers, a record for the platform.
Deadline reports the season four debut bested the season three finale, which bowed on August 14, 2019, to a total of 109K viewers. Based on Margaret Atwood’s (Alias Grace, Oryx and Crake) best-selling novel, the series stars Elisabeth Moss (Shirley, The Invisible Man) as a woman bound under treacherous servitude in the modern-day United States. Season four highlights a moment of rebellion as her character seeks to prevent the harrowing governing method from spreading across to other states of the country. The series stars Joseph Fiennes (Shakespeare in Love, Risen), Ann Dowd (Mass, Search Party), Yvonne Strahovski (Chuck, Dexter), Samira Wiley (Orange Is The New Black, Nerve), O.T. Fagbenle (The Five, Black Widow), and Max Minghella (Teen Spirit, Spiral).
The series is created by Bruce Miller (Eureka, Alphas) and produced by MGM Studios. To date, its won 15 Emmy awards including Outstanding Drama Series and Lead Actress for Moss’ performance.