THE HANDMAID’S TALE PRODUCTION
she begins to wake up, cicadas turn into this squealing rail of the train car, which lurches her into this anxiety,” he summarises. “All these things that happen practically – those sounds are the basis of the emotions she’s feeling.” NEW TERRITORY This juxtaposition between mankind and nature has always been at the centre of the show. “The cars in Gilead are all electric, there are birds in the trees,” highlights Mercer. “The oppressive regime and totalitarian surveillance are always in the background too.” To design the series’ soundscape, McCallum first focused on Gilead, creating an almost inaudible radio static that follows the citizens like flies. “It’s supposed to make you feel like somebody is always listening,” he shares. “Over the course of the seasons, as the narrative has changed and moved beyond Gilead into Canada – and in this season in particular, into places like Alaska and the resistance camps – the nature of the sound has shifted as we’ve been telling a different story.” Serena’s story in particular has arguably shifted the furthest. Once the wife of commander Fred Waterford and a conservative activist, she marries another man (going against the norms she helped establish) and ‘they have a big, Gilead wedding’, according to Daley. “We did two days of filming in a huge,
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DEFINITIONMAGS
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