Why Hulu Premiered Season 4 of The Handmaid’s Tale a Day Early

On Tuesday night, Handmaid’s Tale fans were able to return to Gilead a day earlier than expected when Hulu surprise-dropped the first three episodes of the show’s fourth season, which had been scheduled to debut on April 28. The surprise drop began with a Facebook Premiere video on Tuesday night, which notified The Handmaid’s Tale’s 1 million-plus Facebook followers that the page was planning something for 9 p.m. That turned out to be an unannounced play-through of the first scene from the series’ fourth season, followed by a recorded message from the show’s cast revealing that the first three episodes were now available to watch immediately on Hulu. The early release of Season 4, which includes star Elisabeth Moss' directorial debut, was designed to reward the show's fanbase, which has had to wait nearly two years for new episodes after production on the season was paused for six months due to the Covid-19 pandemic, said Shannon Ryan, president, content marketing at Hulu and at Disney’s general entertainment division. Elisabeth Moss on How a Natural Curiosity Ultimately Led to Her Directorial Debut The idea, she explained, was built out of an effort to “re-engage the show’s core audience” and get them talking. “This decision was made entirely with The Handmaid’s Tale fans in mind,” Ryan said. “They’ve been incredibly engaged and supportive of the series since it premiered four years ago and have patiently waited almost two years for the new season. We felt that this passionate group would be thrilled with a surprise drop and that it made sense for our cast to speak directly to the fans to share the exciting news first.” Using Facebook for the announcement was also a natural choice, as the show’s biggest and most active fan community lives on the platform, Ryan said. But the service has been teasing the new season on other social media outlets as well. On April 14, Hulu partnered with Twitter to debut an interactive map of Gilead, the fictional alternate to the United States where the story takes place. Users are encouraged to explore the map by tweeting coordinates on the map plus the hashtag #HandmaidsTale to unlock exclusive content, and can opt in to receive weekly reminders about when new episodes are available. Surprise-drop strategy This is not the first time that Hulu has opted to go the surprise-drop route for an eagerly anticipated series. Last March, just one week into the Covid-19 pandemic, the company opted to release the first three episodes of Little Fires Everywhere a day early as a surprise for viewers stuck at home. But Hulu doesn't plan on making this a regular occurrence. “It’s always driven by what’s right for the audience and best for the show,” Ryan said. “It’s also not a strategy we would want to deploy haphazardly. It has to really make sense, specifically for shows with intense anticipation and passionate fan communities.” The Handmaid's Tale, which made history as the first streaming original series to win an Emmy in 2017, is one of Hulu's most successful originals and has already been renewed for a fifth season. Hulu has also optioned the rights to Margaret Atwood’s sequel novel, The Testaments, to keep the story of Gilead going. Related: How Covid-19 Changed Season 4 of The Handmaid’s Tale