The Best Books, Movies, Video Games, and Podcasts to Check Out After Watching ‘The Handmaid's Tale’[html]
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Hulu’s adaptation of The Handmaid’s Tale hit our screens at precisely the right moment—a time when many had Americans begun to wonder if our democracy was as robust as we’d always assumed. It brought Margaret Atwood’s grim vision of a totalitarian, patriarchal, and fanatical future America (now known as The Republic of Gilead) to life with sharp writing, electric performances, a striking visual style, and instantly iconic costume designs.
Now that the series has ended, you might be wondering how you’ll get your fix of feel-bad dystopian futures. Thanks in part to its success, there are a lot of other TV series you can stream that offer similarly provocative visions of our Worst Possible Future (including the spinoff series The Testaments)—but you can also plunge deeper into books, movies, games, and podcasts that deliver similar visions of where we may be headed.
The best books like The Handmaid's Tale
The Handmaid’s Tale is a literary adaptation, after all, and the series maintained that novelistic feel. If you’re a reader, here are more books that explore similar themes.
The Testaments, by Margaret Atwood
The adaptation of Atwood’s novel went far beyond her original vision out of necessity: You don’t get six seasons of June fighting the patriarchy without inventing a lot of new material. In 2019, Atwood delivered the long-awaited sequel to her novel, offering her thoughts on what the larger picture of Gilead would look like. Three women smuggle their experiences out of the Republic—a young woman who rejects her arranged marriage despite her strong faith, a teen girl who finds herself questioning the bedrock of her existence, and, most intriguingly, Lydia, the stern, conflicted Aunt responsible for training (and punishing) the Handmaids.
Future Home of the Living God, by Louise Erdrich
If you’re intrigued by ideas around reproductive freedom, bodily agency, and how quickly society could revert to a more primitive state, Future Home of the Living God is the perfect choice. In a grim future, evolution has gone haywire—plants and animals appear to be evolving backwards, and a range of threats challenge humanity’s survival. When the government begins rounding up pregnant women, Cedar Hawk Songmaker flees, embarking on a violent journey as she fights for herself and the autonomy of women everywhere.
Women Talking, by Miriam Toews
If you loved how The Handmaid’s Tale explores the ways the women of Gilead sustain and defend themselves without ever holding real power, Women Talking will be fascinating. The women of the Mennonite colony of Molotschna have long believed demons attack them at night. When a man is caught assaulting one of them, however, they realize they have been lied to and gaslit by the patriarchal leaders of the colony—in reality, those men have been drugging and abusing them. Unable to read and ignorant of the outside world, the women gather to discuss what’s to be done, with the help of the one man in the community they trust.
The Children of Men, by P.D. James
It’s sometimes forgotten that the precipitating event leading to the Republic of Gilead in The Handmaid’s Tale is a fertility crisis. James’ dystopian novel goes one step further—by the year 2021, no children have been born for more than 25 years. The novel explores the slow dissolution of civilization in the face of humanity’s inevitable extinction, with each grim development more horrifyingly plausible than the last. If it’s the dystopia of it all that you love, this novel is the ideal choice.
The Gate to Women's Country, by Sheri S. Tepper
If you’re looking for a similar vibe to The Handmaid’s Tale, but from a different perspective, Tepper’s 1988 novel will deliver. In a post-apocalyptic Pacific Northwest, a matriarchy has emerged. Women and children live peacefully within the walls of small cities, while men live in more primitive conditions outside, as warriors. But keeping those two groups apart forever isn’t possible, and when a young woman in Marthatown begins a friendship with a warrior named Chernon, change—violent and otherwise—is inevitable.
The best movies like The Handmaid's Tale
Hollywood loves a good dystopian epic, so there is no shortage of grim films offering possible futures no one wants. If you’re looking to stay in this lane, here are some terrific films to queue up.
The Handmaid's Tale (1990)
The most direct way to stay in the universe of The Handmaid’s Tale is to watch the first adaptation, from 1990. Starring Robert Duvall, Natasha Richardson, and Faye Dunaway, the film was scripted by Nobel Prize-winning playwright Harold Pinter and offers a more compressed and melodramatic—but no less horrifying—version of the story. It’s very 1990, but it offers an intriguingly different perspective on the material. Stream The Handmaid’s Tale on Apple TV.
The Assessment (2024)
If you want to keep exploring the themes and big questions the show tackles, The Assessment is your jam. Set in a future where increased lifespans and resource scarcity have led made reproduction a highly-regulated act requiring advanced technology, the film focuses on a couple, Mia and Aaryan (Elizabeth Olsen and Himesh Patel), applying to have a child. The government assessor, Virginia (Alicia Vikander), arrives to live with them for seven days to evaluate their application. The testing quickly takes a dark turn, and the film explores the power dynamic and raw emotions linking all three of these fascinating individuals. Stream The Assessment on Hulu or rent it on Prime Video.
Anniversary (2025)
If you want to explore the details of how a society can slide into madness, Anniversary is a great choice. At a party celebrating her 25th anniversary with her husband, liberal professor Ellen (Diane Lane) meets her son’s new fiancée, Liz (Phoebe Dynevor), a former student. Liz has developed a movement called Change that promotes totalitarian governance, and over the next five years, her ideas gradually become violently mainstream, destroying Ellen and her family along the way. Stream Anniversary on Hulu or rent it on Prime Video.
Dogville (2003)
Lars von Trier’s 2003 film adheres to his principles of Dogme 95—filmmaking that eschews technology and special effects in favor of storytelling fundamentals. The sets are minimal (buildings and rooms are often represented by lines on the floor), but the story is compelling. A woman named Grace (Nicole Kidman) flees gangsters and takes refuge in the town of Dogville. Although welcomed at first, as the townfolk realize the power they have over the desperate woman, her situation grows increasingly grim. It's a story that explores how eager seemingly everyday people are to
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July 19, 2025, 04:03:32 PM