Season 3 of The Handmaid’s Tale kicks off this week: What we can expect

The world of Gilead is more intense than ever as we prepare for the third season of The Handmaid’s Tale to air tonight.

It’s just about the most unsettling show on television, and a new season of The Handmaid’s Tale is promising to be even more chilling than ever.

The Hulu made show, which airs in Australia tonight on SBS, has garnered huge critical acclaim since it aired in 2017, with the first season winning eight Emmy Awards.

And judging by the trailer we’re in for another tumultuous season, with things looking pretty eerie in Gilead.

In the brief teaser, which is the only preview we've been given since the season two cliffhanger, a narrator can be heard announcing, “It’s morning again in America” alongside shots of women going to work and newborn babies in Gilead.

But the scene suddenly changes with an explosion and the arrival of June (Elizabeth Moss), who interrupts the narrator to say, “Wake up America, morning’s over.”

The trailer pays tribute to US president Ronald Reagan’s famous It’s Morning in America presidential campaign ads.

The TV spots aired in 1984, the same year George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984 — which has often been compared to The Handmaid’s Tale — is set.

*Warning: Season 2 spoilers ahead*

The Handmaid's Tale returns tonight.

Last year’s second season ended on a note that angered fans, with June’s infuriating decision to stay in Gilead to help her daughter Hannah, instead of fleeing to Canada with her baby girl, Nicole.

But it was Emily’s (Alexis Biedel) cruel stabbing of Aunt Lydia (Ann Dowd) that proved the major cliffhanger as we head into a new season.

Is she dead? Not according to showrunner Bruce Miller, who dropped a massive spoiler when he revealed Dowd’s character would be coming back for season three.

“Aunt Lydia doesn’t die, (but) she’s transformed by this event,” he told Indiewire.

“The fact that one of her girls … has literally stabbed her in the back. I think that that alters your workplace feelings on a day-to-day basis.

“In her case, it makes her double down that she feels like she just wasn’t strong enough in her discipline. So she, I think, has decided it’s time to get tough.”

Q: #AskHandmaidsTale Using only emojis, describe your character's story in S3. 😉
- @racheloretta

A: @amandabrugel: 💣🍆🖕 pic.twitter.com/dAQxDc3Z0b

— The Handmaid's Tale (@HandmaidsOnHulu) June 4, 2019

Emily was last seen heading to the Canadian border with baby Nicole, so it’s no doubt she will be an integral character yet again, while it’s expected Commander Lawrence is set to play a much bigger part.

“He was exactly the kind of character we wanted to start building in season two … I think we’re going to learn a ton about him,” Miller added.

June’s husband Luke is out for blood, after confronting his wife’s rapist, Fred Waterford.

“All of the sudden the Gilead, and the Gilead system has been reduced to Fred Waterford and he’s gonna find a way to get Fred,” Miller said.

The first two episodes of The Handmaid’s Tale air on SBS at 8.30pm tonight.

Originally published as Season 3 of The Handmaid’s Tale kicks off this week: What we can expect