00:00Sometimes, somewhere, each detail is plucked from reality.
00:05The Handmaid's Tale author Margaret Atwood is saying her follow-up novel The
00:09Testaments was inspired in part by Trump's presidential election in 2016. Atwood
00:14stopped by late night with Seth Meyers to discuss her long-awaited sequel, which
00:18as it turns out is also being developed into a Hulu series, much like her original
00:22novel The Handmaid's Tale, which went on to become an Emmy-winning drama starring
00:26Elizabeth Moss. Her follow-up, The Testaments, takes place 15 years after the
00:30original ending and follows the complicated lives of handmaids who are sex slaves
00:34forced to give birth for infertile high-power families. Although Atwood began
00:38writing the novel prior to the 2016 elections, she did admit that the outcome
00:42of the elections did fuel the direction of the book.
00:56Many have noted the themes and concepts found in the novel seem to indicate the
01:00present-day climate, in particular with the Trump administration and the rights of
01:03women, immigrants, LGBTQ individuals and other marginalized communities.
01:08And when speaking with Meyers, Atwood reiterated that each detail is plucked from
01:12reality, so nothing she wrote has not already occurred, whether it be this
01:16political climate or ones before. The author also discussed with the host how
01:20prevalent her story has become throughout generations, having multiple second lives,
01:24including an opera, a graphic novel, a ballet and even taking on a new life as a protest
01:30movement. And the different lives of Atwood's world will continue as MGM and Hulu
01:34announced earlier this month that they're developing the Testaments for the screen
01:37as an important extension to showrunner Bruce Miller's The Handmaid's Tale.
01:41For more on the story, head to THR.com and until next time for The Hollywood Reporter News,
01:46I'm Neha Joy.
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