The Hulu series “The Handmaid’s Tale,” based on Margaret Atwood’s 1985 novel of the same name, returned recently for its sixth season. The series is an unflinching portrayal of a dystopian future where women have been forced into natal slavery.
When the show premiered in 2017, shortly after President Donald Trump took office for the first time, it was embraced by many of the president’s detractors as a rallying cry against what they saw as his own support for policies that subjugate women. Now, almost 10 years later, the series is no less brutal in its depiction of the struggle against a totalitarian regime.
As many on the left have grown exhausted by what was once termed the “resistance” to Trump’s policies, some have wondered about the value of shows like “The Handmaid’s Tale.” But others find it more relevant than ever before.
One of those people is Susan Weeks, a visual effects artist and professor at the Sidney Poitier New American Film School at Arizona State University. Weeks joined The Show to discuss her love for “The Handmaid’s Tale,” and why she thinks more people should be watching it.
Full conversation
SUSAN WEEKS: In my work, I always deal with uncomfortable issues, so I was really happy to see the portrayal of these issues for everyone to contemplate.
SAM DINGMAN: Can you say more about how it comes up in your work? How uncomfortable issues come up?
WEEKS: In my visual effects work, the difficult issues that come up usually involve violence, involve different kinds of violence — extreme violence, the portrayals of violence, the ramifications of violence. You know, I've exploded many things in my career.
DINGMAN: [LAUGHS] Yes, and I would have to imagine — and feel free to correct me if I don't have this right — that sometimes the violence that you are asked to depict as a visual effects artist is handled in a thoughtful way, and sometimes not so much?
WEEKS: Precisely. I could tell you a story about working on "." with Jodie Foster if you're interested in hearing that.
DINGMAN: I certainly would be. Yes.
WEEKS: Well, I was tasked with the killing of her fiancé in that tunnel. And it was such a serious thing that they wanted me to do that it gave the film an X rating, and then it got cut out of the film because they didn't want an X rating. So, I spent four months working on this one shot that portrayed the violent destruction of her fiancé, and then it was gone.
DINGMAN: That has to be really intense to sit with for four months — something so graphic that it would prompt an X rating for a film. How do you deal with that?
WEEKS: You keep in mind that it's just an image. You try to see it as a piece of photography. You try to see the art in the whole project, and how this contributes to the telling of that story. You try not to focus on, you know, how awful it is. You try to see the bigger issue.
DINGMAN: Well, so how connected is your approach to sitting with a scene like that, that you're working on as an artist, to watching some of the really violent scenes in something like "Handmaid's Tale?"
WEEKS: It gives me a perspective and a distance. You know, I have the perspective of knowing — a long history of watching films, studying films, making films. And that perspective gives me a distance so I can watch something like "The Handmaid's Tale" with an objective frame of mind.
DINGMAN: Going back to 2017 and when "The Handmaid's Tale" premiered, what were the thoughts that went through your mind as you sat with it? And I mean, it was a brutal show then as it is now. But it also generated tons of headlines, lots of critical acclaim. How did you feel about it?
WEEKS: I thought it was very well done. I see dystopia fiction like that as a warning, not a prediction. You know, doesn't mean that we are heading down that road, but it warns us that such roads are out there.
DINGMAN: First season of "Handmaid's Tale" premiered in the first year of the first Trump administration. How and I remember that being a topic of great discussion back then. How much did that influence your viewing experience?
WEEKS: Well, quite a bit. I was scared. I'm scared now. But for myself, personally, I'm somebody who faces fear. You know, I don't turn away from it. I think it's important that we face our fear, and that we watch, we watch images that express our fear, so that we start thinking about them and start considering how we are going to deal with them, personally, politically and as a society.
DINGMAN: Can you think of a scene, if you think back to the earliest seasons of the show, that for you stuck out or resonated in a particular way?
WEEKS: You know, the scenes that really stuck with me, that resonated with me in terms of the new Trump presidency back then were, of course, you know, the sexual assault ceremony scenes. Those always struck me as very bold, very frank kind of in your face, that this is where we are heading if we don't do something about this now. ... And when women lose their rights, everyone can lose their rights. And we, you know, our rights are fragile. They're very fragile. That speaks to the beginning of when Margaret Atwood wrote this book. It was in the face of Christofascism and those kinds of movements where, you know, Christianity was threatening women's rights, sort of thing. And back in 2017 it was, it continued to be fragile. We started to see the cracks in the support for our issues. And now in 2025 after Roe v. Wade has been overturned, it's not just a warning for women, it's a warning for everyone. ... And the sexual assault scenes kind of put that in perspective for me, because in the book, her eyes are not open. She talks talks about how she keeps her eyes closed when that ceremony is being performed. And then in the series, in 2017, June keeps her eyes open. She's looking right into the camera. The camera is placed above her, and she's looking right into the camera. And that is generally interpreted as looking right at us, saying to us as viewers, You have to change this." And that's how I'm seeing it now, because the new season is very much about political resistance.
DINGMAN: I'm glad you brought up the scene that you're describing, Susan, which, you know, as listeners can imagine if they haven't seen it, is extremely intense. But as you pointed out, it was also a very intentional creative choice.
WEEKS: Absolutely.
DINGMAN: What for you made it feel justified?
WEEKS: I'm not somebody who believes that we should turn away from depicting violence. Violence is part of our society. It's part of nature. You can't live in this world without encountering some sort of violence. And to turn away from it is to ignore the issues that violence creates. There are many women out there whose bodies are disenfranchised by the state, and it's just going to get worse. So, I think that we have to look this in the eye. And when we see the issues presented in the sixth season, June reunites with her mother — which also brings up that theme of what is motherhood and how Gilead tried to redefine the bond between mother. And child and also redefine the bond between sexual partners.
DINGMAN: Well, I'm very struck Susan by the fact that we are talking on a day when the Wall Street Journal has just published a really big piece about Elon Musk's, what he calls, "legion of babies."
WEEKS: I read that.
DINGMAN: And all of the women that he has sought out through his professional relationships and through personal relationships he tries to foster on X with the explicit goal of having as many babies with as many possible female partners as he can. Which strikes me as a plot that wouldn't be out of place in a season of "Handmaid's Tale?"
WEEKS: No, it would not be out of place in a season of "Handmaid's Tale." But "The Handmaid's Tale" has never been focused on a man like that, and it's always been from the point of view of the women always.
