‘Handmaid’s Tale’ Showrunner Steps Down to Focus on Sequel ‘Testaments’ (Exclusive)

There’s a changing of the guard in the behind-the-scenes world of Gilead.

The Handmaid’s Tale showrunner Bruce Miller, who has steered Hulu’s Emmy-winning drama since its start, has handed over day-to-day oversight of the Elisabeth Moss series. Longtime writers and exec producers Eric Tuchman and Yahlin Chang have been named co-showrunners for the sixth and final season of The Handmaid’s Tale, taking over the role previously held by Miller.

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Miller has been steering development of The Testaments, author Margaret Atwood’s sequel to Handmaid’s Tale, at the same time as he’s been plotting the final season of the flagship series. With too much on his plate, Miller opted to focus on The Testaments, with Tuchman and Chang taking over the everyday decision-making on the flagship series. Miller, sources say, will still be highly involved with the final season and will write two episodes of the season.

As part of Tuchman’s deal, MGM — the studio that controls The Handmaid’s Tale for Hulu — has extended its overall deal with the writer. Tuchman first signed a deal with MGM in 2018 that included developing new projects for the studio. In addition to writing the penultimate episodes of seasons one and two, among others, Tuchman has penned the penultimate episode of all five seasons of The Handmaid’s Tale. His credits also include Stitchers, Beauty and the Beast, Eureka, Kyle XY, Early Edition and Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman. He’s repped by A3 Artists Agency, Rain Management Group and Jackoway Austen.

Chang, for her part, has penned numerous episodes of the series and counts Supergirl, Shades of Blue, Dirty Sexy Money and ER among her credits. She’s repped by UTA and Lichter Grossman.

Miller has been working on The Testaments since Hulu and MGM announced development of Atwood’s book in late 2019. He has an overall deal with Disney’s ABC Signature and Hulu and won an Emmy for his writing work on Handmaid’s Tale in 2017, the same year the show became the first streaming original to win an Emmy for outstanding series. The Handmaid’s Tale has been a passion project for Miller, who has been a die-hard fan of Atwood’s book for decades. When Hulu was first searching for a showrunner on the drama, the streamer wanted to hire a woman to run it because of the nature of the story. Miller won the role because of his passion for the material.

“Because the worlds are slightly different with timing, and all the things that are different between a television show and a novel, I have to figure out all of those little things. I’m trying to lay the groundwork,” Miller told THR in an exclusive September interview about juggling the final season with his work on The Testaments. “It is a continuation, but it’s more like a separate chapter. The horizons are more limitless.”

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