kndctr_5BD3248D541C319B0A4C98C6_AdobeOrg_cluster

kndctr_5BD3248D541C319B0A4C98C6_AdobeOrg_identity

fpid

ecid

Global Navigation

What's On Page Navigation

EOG S5 EP7 WARREN LITTLEFEILD BONUS EP R2.mp3

Warren Littlefield on The Handmaid's Tale Season 6 and The Testaments (Interview)

Bruce Miller on The Handmaid's Tale Season 6 So Far

The Handmaid's Tale Season 6 Episode 7 Recap

The Handmaid's Tale Season 6 Episode 6 Recap

The Handmaid's Tale Season 6 Episode 5 Recap

The Handmaid's Tale executive producer, Warren Littlefield, speaks to Eyes On Gilead host and producer, Fiona Williams.

In a special bonus episode, The Handmaid's Tale's executive producer Warren Littlefield (The Littlefield Company) joins Fiona for a wide ranging chat about: how the production has approached this final season; why Eric Tuchman and Yahlin Chang took over as joint showrunners for season 6; how The…

In a special bonus episode, The Handmaid's Tale's executive producer Warren Littlefield (The Littlefield Company) joins Fiona for a wide ranging chat about: how the production has approached this final season; why Eric Tuchman and Yahlin Chang took over as joint showrunners for season 6; how The Handmaid's Tale might intersect with its spin-off series, The Testaments; and the '90s sitcom character he inspired.

https://sbs-podcast.streamguys1.com/eyes-gilead/20250502184414-eog-s5-ep7-warren-littlefeild-bonus-ep-r2.mp3?awCollectionId=eyes-gilead&awGenre=TV+and+Film&awEpisodeId=00000196-8ffb-db50-a396-bffb854b0000&dur_cat=4

Join Fiona Williams, Haidee Ireland, Sana Qadar, and Natalie Hambly every week with SBS' award-winning The Handmaid's Tale companion podcast, Eyes on Gilead. There is a lot going on in this series and we think it helps to talk it out at the end of every episode. BEST COMPANION PODCAST - FINALIST - 2022 New York Festivals Radio Awards BEST ARTS & CULTURE PODCAST - BRONZE AWARD - 2020 Australian Podcast Awards BEST FANCAST - 2019 Australian Podcast Awards

Eyes On Gilead: A Handmaid's Tale Podcast

What's On

Evergreen

Guide

TV & Film

After Shows

Ann Dowd

Natalie Hambly

Joseph Fiennes

Fiona Williams

Yvonne Strahovski

Alexis Bledel

Sana Qadar

Elisabeth Moss

Podcasts

The Handmaid's Tale

TV Shows

Podcast

Uplifting

Light

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Download (23.87 MB)

Warren Littlefield

Television Series

Interviews

Neutral

And that was all developed during the Obama years, and then we were probably making Episode 4 and we stayed up all night and we watched the election and

And number 45 happened and all of a sudden,

There's a new sense of what we were about.

Welcome to Eyes on Gilead, an SBS podcast dedicated to the Handmaid's Tale. There is a lot going on in this show, and we think it helps to talk it out. I'm Fiona Williams, and I'm head of curation at SBS On Demand, and I'm joined by my friends, colleagues, and fellow resisters. Haidee Ireland, channel manager of SBS On Demand. Hello, Natalie Hambly, journalist turned gemologist. Hello.

And Sana Qadar, host of All in the Mind podcast on ABC Radio National. Hi.

Hello. We usually gather to recap episodes of The Handmaid's Tale, and we are absolutely still watching along as this final season premieres to the world, and we'll have another one for you very soon. But you know how much we love to drop a bonus episode when we have a special guest, and we've got a very special one today.

We have The Handmaid's Tales executive producer, Mr. Warren Littlefield, in the Zoom room, ready to chat. And so, I recognise that we have a diverse audience, um, from all over the world who may not be fully aware of Warren Littlefield's career.

But for a generation of pop culture junkies such as myself who were in their teens in the 80s and 90s, you would know him by his work. He worked on the Golden Girls and then became president of NBC Entertainment in the 90s, where he pioneered the must-see TV phenomenon. You know, he greenlit the juggernauts of Seinfeld, Friends, Frasier.

ER and the West Wing. I'm looking at you, pop culture queen.

Far out. Exactly. And speaking of Seinfeld, he very famously inspired a character within the sitcom. You might recall the network executive Russell Dalrymple, who was very hard to impress, played by Bob Balaban. And of course, I bring that up in the interview. So. But in more recent years, he convinced Noah Hawley to adapt the legendary Cohen Brothers film Fargo for FX. And since then, the Littlefield Company.

Brought us Fargo, Dopesick, and the Old Man, all of which have been at Space on demand, and a couple of them still are. Dope Sick and The Old Man you can watch as well.

But famously, he oversaw the adaptation of The Handmaid's Tale and convinced one, Elizabeth Moss, to give it a crack.

So, as a big TV nerd, it was a thrill to talk to Mr. Warren Littlefield. So, let's hear from him.

Thank you, Warren. No, we, uh, absolutely have a ball recapping this beautiful series. So thank you so much. It's a pleasure to talk to you. I like to say, as we're, you know, heading, rocketing into this final season, hindsight is a hell of a thing, but I'd love to look back and at the early days, you know, surely no one could have foreseen what a, what a force this would be in no one foresaw what the world it would be premiering her into. But I'd love to get your sense of looking back, how you shepherded this story to the screen.

We've always been guided by Margaret Atwood's words, right? And it was over 40 years ago on a rented typewriter in Berlin that Margaret wrote The Handmaid's Tale, and she wrote a speculative fiction, but it was a quilt that she made out of historical fact, right? And uh uh a brilliant conceptualization.

And so our quest was Bruce Miller understood what to do with that, and Bruce wrote.

Some wonderful scripts to take us into that television show. And I think early on, we wanted to make a compelling

Human drama. That, that was it. Um, and, and we, we hoped we could honour Bruce's words and Margaret's inspiration. And that was all developed during the Obama years. Um, and then we were, uh, probably making episode 4, and we stayed up all night and we watched the election and

There's a new sense of what we were about, because the, the struggle for women's rights and for human rights became such a touchstone issue. Certainly in America, but throughout the world. And then we became the symbol of the resistance. And so, how do we satisfy

A television audience that's coming for dramatic entertainment.

And also feel the responsibility on our shoulders. And so our writers really were focused on research and understanding the world that we were living in. I think a process where they were channelling what Margaret had done.

Decades before. And so that's what we tried to accomplish, still make a compelling television drama.

And also understand that we've become a symbol of the resistance.

You know, you've nurtured so many shows to the screen in, in your storied career. What have you learned from adaptation of a book? I know Fargo was adapted from a film, but adapting a book and working with Margaret as well in expanding this world of, of her original book and continuing to, beyond this, of course, with the Testaments. What have you learned about adapting in that process?

Well, I think it's a reduction sauce. If we're gonna talk about cooking, right? Use that analogy. And so,

It's also critical to leap beyond, because we're in a different medium. And so, on the page is not what's on the stage. So how do we bring that to life? How do we, how do we go on journeys with a character so that the character, so that Serena Joy is not a cardboard villain. So that Aunt Lydia.

Has a dimension that demands that she be with you across 6 seasons, right? And so, all of those elements, I think their roots are found, um, in Margaret's work. But the journey of where we go and how we boil that down.

Hold on to those essential elements and then take off. And in some ways you have to, you have to let go. It's the journey of any child with their parents, and to love is to let go. And so I think that's what we find ourselves doing.

In any of these adaptations, and that's, you know, you learn by making mistakes, you, you try, you experiment, uh, that's all part of the process, but it doesn't mean you honour that original work any less. That's the journey. We're meant to go on that journey.

And speaking of journeys, I, I have gone back to rewatch, um, from season one, episode one to get into the finale. You know, there's been a gap.

Look, not your fault, not your fault entirely. Um, and, and just the, the cinematic nature of this series and the quality of the writing, little Easter eggs that you pop in there. Yes, it's, it's so layered. On that journey, it is a tale, of course, so it doesn't have a final end point, but how you're approaching ending.

The Handmaid's Tale. So, you know, it's, it is part of the zeitgeist, as we've said. How are you approaching

The finale, and so many stories to, well,

not end, but June has always given us hope by not giving up the fight. She's had tremendous setbacks, unbelievable adversaries, but somehow June.

Keeps fighting back. And in this final year we thought a lot about our loyal fans. We thought about what we wanted to give them.

Not in an unrealistic way, but that hope.

is very important. I think this is very true in America, but I think that the struggle is true throughout the world as well. We need hope, right? And so, our ordinary people, our ordinary handmaids, do extraordinary things in season 6. The revolution's on, they fight back, and they succeed.

And I don't know that we've ever accomplished that before. And is Gilead extinguished? No, it's not.

Because we're also doing the testaments. But there's an accomplishment. And there's also, I think, a beautiful message to say, don't stay on the sidelines, don't give up. And that's what we felt was very important for our final chapter.

As well as something we wanted to put into the universe.

You mentioned the Testaments, and to the extent that you can say, um, is there intersection between the two series to provide a lifting off point, or how do you see them, you know, in conversation with each other?

Yeah, um, again, guided by the wisdom and the beauty, uh, that comes out of Margaret Atwood. It's 4 years later. That's a bit different from, uh, from the book.

In the book, it's 15, uh, for our journey, uh, it's 4 years later, and our central world of Gilead was the greater Boston area. That was our, while we expanded that universe, that's where we were kind of based. And in this final season, we're very much back and the battle is in Boston.

But now we're in Virginia, Maryland. Our point of view rather than June is the point of view of young women coming of age.

And they've only known a world that is Gilead.

So that's a very different knowledge and understanding of what the world is, and we will seduce, we will have architecture that's different, we will have a colour palette that's different, and we have a generation that is different. Those are our core characters and

And then we'll pull back that veil and say, oh.

Maybe all of this is not as beautiful as it appeared.

And so in that way, we continue part of the tradition of Handmaid's Tale, but are uniquely different. And the greater world tells us that the battle is not over.

So that feels appropriate for us to carry forward.

Absolutely. You know, every day there's, it's, there's more relevance. Overnight, the news is the quotes from 47. I'd, I'd love to talk abouthow this production has become a bit of a talent escalator. Obviously, one, Elizabeth Moss.

Went from being star and EP to one of the primary directors really of the show. I think she's doing the finale, isn't she? Um, yes, and also David Lester, is it the director of episode 3, I believe, has been on the production, but got the green light to

Well, Lizzy is a, is a force to be reckoned with, and we put so much on her shoulders. Her contribution is extraordinary. Obviously in front of the camera, it's extraordinary, but she quickly wanted to be a producer, not just in name.

She relished the detail of producing, of building the worlds that we were building, how they looked, how they felt, um, the texture, the detail of that. And then after several seasons of being the star and the producer, uh, critically important producer,

Uh, she was ready through mentorship with some of our directors like Mike Barker, who was an essential part of the show in years 2 and 3. Lizzie was ready in season 4 to get behind the camera as well as in front of it, and she loved it.

Um, she passionately fell in love with that process, and we have watched her become a more experienced and more refined, and a, a really quite an incredible director. And so, Lizzie Moss, the talent.

has lots of opportunity because she is so strong in all those dimensions. She's been a remarkable partner. We wouldn't have the show without her. She brought so much to it. Uh, David Lester, homegrown, an associate producer, did some second unit work, also mentored by Mike Barker and

We just really believed in his instincts as a filmmaker, and in the final season, we had more directors that we would have loved to have worked with than the episodes we had. So handing one to David Lester was a really significant gesture, and wow, did he earn it? We knew he would nail it and, and he did.

Yeah. Mm. And of course, in terms of stepping up, you've got the new showrunners this year with, um, Eric Tuchman and, and Yahlin Chang. How did you manage that sort of transition? I know Bruce is very much still intimately involved, but how did you make the decision? Or what, what prompted the decision and how, how, how did you manage?

Yeah, well, Eric Tuchman has been with the series from day one. And so talk about an experienced writer, producer who lives and breathes The Handmaid's Tale. Eric certainly fits that bill. Yahlin came in in year 2 and a superstar. And so,

They were both for multiple seasons, they were executive producers with Bruce, who was the showrunner, and then it came time to say, are we going to transition? Are we gonna have a testaments? Are we gonna come out of the Handmaid's Tale?

And have the momentum and the power of the Handmaid's Tale and be able to move forward with testaments. And the only way to do that was kind of to say to Bruce, get off the daily.

Merry go round, that is being the showrunner, and focus on critically the architecture, the development, all that you must do as a creator, executive producer and showrunner for the Testaments. And he embraced that and knew that Eric and Yao Lin were ready to take over those showrunning duties and

They were salivating, I think, to do it. And so it was a win-win for them to grab the reins and deliver, I think, a really satisfying and outstanding season and for Bruce to be able to spend a lot more time bringing to life the testaments so that our universe can continue.

And speaking of Yahlin, some of her episodes through the years, my goodness, just, yeah, rip your heart out,

don't they show so much, she puts so much of herself into it. And, uh, it's been a blessing to have her be such a critical part of the show.

Mm. And having rewatched it, that, the episode where June gets out, you know, you think that's what you wanted all along. It's one of the saddest episodes of television. Yeah. Yeah. Still cried every, every moment. Thank you so much. It's, it's a real treat to talk to you. And, you know, I'm big fan also of Bob Balaban's impersonation of you, may I say, in, in Seinfeld.

What's not to love? Um, yeah, well, thank you. Thanks for your support. Thank you for your podcast, and, uh, I really appreciate it as well. Thank you.

That was so good, that was so interesting. It's funny, like it feels like he's giving us a lot, but also kind of not because.

I love what he says that the Handmaids, the Handmaids, I think maybe that's the thing I'm taking away from it, because we already knew that there was gonna be, they're gonna have to succeed in something, you know, like they can't be building up to this entire season finale for there not to be a great takedown in some way, shape, or form. So we do know that they managed to pull off something. The handmaids managed to pull off something.

It's not Gilead ending, but it's significant. So, oh my gosh, what is

that? He says, The Handmaids. Yeah. Is he talking about Juna Moira, who we've known as Handmaids, or is it a bigger populace? Yeah. Also

very interesting that they're doing it 4 years later rather than 15. I mean, makes sense practically, you, you know, you need Aunt Lydia to be in there and in 15 years, who knows? But, um, it means we're not really gonna meet Nicole. She's gonna be 5 years old when the Testaments, you know, do you get what I'm saying?

I think it's test was about Hannah, wasn't it? It

girls. It has been a while. Yeah. I might have to read that now. I have to reread. Yeah. Yeah, interesting. It's a clearly, the Testaments TV show is a sequel to The Handmaid's TV show where the book was a sequel to the book. So, yes, obviously they're taking liberties, as is their want. I think

it's scarily prescient though, again, which is one of the things that I have been noticing.

In headlines and in social chat and stuff like that, is people not realising how much that maybe America has turned into Gilead in some ways, and they're kind of not used to it or they're not really seeing it for what it is, or like,

The, it's like the frog in the pot, and the pot has just been slowly getting hotter and hotter, and it's like, Guys, it's boiling, it's boiling, you know, do something about this. Fight back. And, um, but there will be a whole, um, bunch of kids that are growing up, and this is what their reality is, and they won't necessarily see it as bad or see that things should be different. And so that's right when the Testaments is going to, is going to come in, which I find

At a fascinating point in time. They're too good at this. It's frightening.

They are too good to the point, you wonder, are people watching it for the, for the how to. Yeah. And it is interesting, the mention of the children who will have grown up and known this, which, yeah, we, in a previous episode, we were speculating about the age Gilead came into being, and obviously, we saw the start of it happen in, in flashbacks in The Handmaids. But there was that kid.

In the bowling alley that June and Luke encountered in season 5, and like, he didn't have a memory of before, like, he was, he'd grown up enough to have forgotten aspects of, of his life pre-Gilead, which set off a panic in Luke and June about what Hannah might be forgetting.

And Hannah does forget, isn't the 2nd time June sees her.

A moment where Hannah, Hannah is a little bit offput. She doesn't know what's happening or potentially doesn't remember who June is. That's

the way June took it, but it was the torture chamber episode, so everything was a bit unreal and Hannah, who knows, maybe she'd been roused from sleep. Maybe she kind of like, what the hell is going on? And also June looked different. Like she was dressed in prison garb and like looked a little bit.

You know, maybe like a quote unquote, crazy lady, if that's what Hannah might have seen her as. Um, so it wasn't clear. Whereas, also in the timeline, it wasn't that long since they'd had that heartbreaking lake house reunion where Hannah very much did remember June, and she was calling her mummy and she was crying about being separated. So it's like a couple of years on, she's had, she was pregnant at that time, about to have Nicole. So it's a couple of years on.

Warren Littlefield on The Handmaid's Tale Season 6 and The Testaments (Interview)

Eyes On Gilead: A Handmaid's Tale Podcast

Get the SBS Audio app

Other ways to listen

Latest podcast episodes