The Handmaid's Tale Season 2 comes to an end on Wednesday, July 11, after thirteen weeks. The season has been long enough that fans of the series might feel bereft when they suddenly realize there are no more installments to obsess over of Offred's Awful Adventures In Gilead. But there's good news for those who need a new show to fill the gap left until The Handmaid's Tale Season 3 turns up in 2019. There are quite a few shows like The Handmaid's Tale out there which can help fill the different needs of the fans who watch the series.
There are several different niches that The Handmaid's Tale fills for different kinds of fans. It serves as a feminist show, with one of the very few female protagonists in the prestige TV genre. For those who are fans of Elisabeth Moss since her time on Mad Men, it gives a fix of her brilliant acting skills every week. For fans of weep-fest TV that makes the world around them seem less depressing by comparison, it fits the bill nicely. (Except of course on the weeks when it hits the current political crisis on the nose.) And for fans of different kinds of dystopias, it hits very close to home.
Let's run down the five best options to watch while waiting for The Handmaid's Tale Season 3.
If you need more Margaret Atwood in your life, I highly recommend the Netflix/CBC adaptation of her 1996 novel Alias Grace. Set in the 1840s in Canada, near Ontario's southern border, this story is based on historical events instead of a dystopian fantasy. Grace Marks was convicted of the brutal murders of her employers at age 19 and sentenced to life imprisonment. Her controversial conviction sparked a debate whether she was guilty or an unwitting accessory.
If you need more Elisabeth Moss, head for the two seasons of The Sundance Channel's Top Of The Lake. A mystery drama series, it was written and directed by Jane Campion. In it, Moss plays Detective Robin Griffin, who becomes involved in the investigation of the murder of a pregnant 12-year-old girl when she goes home to New Zealand. Season 2 is set in Australia revolving around the murder of an unidentified Asian girl found at Bondi Beach and co-stars Gwendoline Christie.
If you need something super depressing, you need to watch HBO's The Leftovers. Based on the novel by Tom Perrotta, the series is set three years after a global event called the "Sudden Departure", the simultaneous disappearance of 140 million people, which many believe was The Rapture. Each season explores a different area. The first is set in suburban New York, the second in a small town in Texas where everyone was spared, and the third is a globe-trotting marvel.
If you need more too-close-to-home dystopia, there's Amazon's The Man In The High Castle. Based on the Philip K. Dick alternate history book of what happened if the Nazis won the war, the U.S. is divided into the Greater Nazi Reich and the Japanese Pacific States, separated by the Rocky Mountain neutral zone. The series is an ensemble piece focusing on a set of propaganda films that show the characters are in the wrong timeline and a what if of the real world.
And if you need a new flagship show based on a dystopian fantasy novel with strong women characters living in a horrific patriarchy that ruins everybody's lives, head to HBO for Game of Thrones. Based on the George R.R. Martin fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire, the show follows the adventures of the feuding Great Houses of Stark, Baratheon, Lannister, and Targaryen, this continent-spanning saga is a national obsession for a reason.
