As in the dystopian fictional world of The Handmaid’s Tale, in real life, one of the biggest hurdles for the next fourth season of the Hulu drama was getting to Canada.
Although, for the series starring Elisabeth Moss, this kind of barricade was more about the coronavirus pandemic than escaping a totalitarian theocracy.
“Honestly, the biggest change is that it was difficult to take our cast to Canada to film,” Servant showrunner Bruce Miller admitted during today’s TCA virtual panel for the show.
The series based on Margaret Atwood’s acclaimed 1985 novel was shot in and around Toronto since its first season.
Forced to close like almost all other productions worldwide due to the growing crisis of Covid-19 last year, when the Servant’s Tale last fall the fact that it was being filmed north of the border increased became a problem in some ways.
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Trying to contain the pandemic, Canada closed its doors to America early on, when the case arose in Terra dos Livres, Lar dos Bravos. Although Canadian citizens and essential workers, who were appointed by entertainment industry professionals, could travel to the Great White North, provinces like Ontario had mandatory 14-day quarantines until recently.
“So we had to keep people out of episodes simply because they didn’t have enough time on their agenda,” added Miller of the consequences that the policy had on Servant Production. “I mean, people are very kind to come and fly for a day of work in Canada from anywhere. Many of our cast members like Clea DuVall, these people who work really hard on other shows. So that was the biggest change. “
Of course, even though the flight to Canada from the despotic Gilead plays a big role in the world of Servant, travel was not the only area where the coronavirus impacted the program
“There were definitely a lot of things that had to be changed in the program,” noted Miller. “Only the practical realities of producing and doing the show on the spot were very difficult, but the people in front of the camera, most of the time, we try to … protect that space.”
“We reduced the number of people in scenes and locations, for example, where we decided to shoot was a very big issue, because sometimes we couldn’t get things done,” said the showrunner and executive producer as his fellow EPs Moss and Warren Littlefield watched and waved the head. “Sometimes, we had five people in front of the cameras, sometimes 20 people in front of the cameras. So, we constantly spent the entire season making adjustments to the script and the story. “
With Moss also behind the camera for the first time directing three episodes, the fourth season of 10 episodes of The Handmaid’s Tale opens with a trio of episodes on April 28 on the Disney-controlled streamer. Having just finished today, Moss directed the third episode, which Miller wrote, as well as episodes eight and nine.
Still using elements from Atwood’s book and having the rights to his sequel published in 2019 Wills, The Handmaid’s Tale was renewed by Hulu for a fifth season in December. However, today Miller made it clear that he did not imagine the end of the Emmy-winning program.
“As long as Lizzie does this to me, I will continue,” Miller joked to laughs from Moss and Littlefield. “There is a lot of life in this story. I am certainly fascinated with what happens in the Testaments and if this is going to be part of our future, that is a bigger question. “
The Joseph Fiennes, Yvonne Strahovski, Samira Wiley, Alexis Bledel, Bradley Whitford, Ann Dowd and Max Minghella co-starring Handmaid’s is the executive production of Moss, Miller, Littlefield, Daniel Wilson, Fran Sears, Eric Tuchman, John Weber, Frank Siracusa , Sheila Hockin, Kira Snyder and Yahlin Chang.