Handmaid's Tale Season 4 Premiere Sets Records At Hulu

The Season 4 premiere of The Handmaid's Tale reportedly ranks as the streaming service's most watched programming in its entire history, according to Deadline. Of course, since most streaming services aren't transparent about or generally report on actual viewership figures, such brags should be taken with a grain of salt--but Deadline's sourcing is based on metrics from third-party services, like Samba TV, which are a good ballpark indication of how shows are generally performing.

Samba TV's figures, for example, aren't out yet, so there isn't a number to attach to the current claim that the dystopian drama based on the Margaret Atwood best-selling novel currently ranks as the top streaming series ever since launching on April 28. Still, the record-setting news wouldn't be a total shock, seeing as how Season 3 ended in August 2019, and Season 4 finally premiered in April 2021. That's quite a wait, with plenty of time to build up even more demand.

Actually, Handmaid's Tale released the first three episodes of Season 4 ahead of schedule by a few days, which only served to further excite fans. That, and the fact that the show already got renewed for Season 5 back in December means there are many loyal viewers who are devoted to the show, even though the dystopian setting and harsh world makes it a difficult--though worthwhile--watch.

Season 4 of Handmaid's Tale will have a total of 10 episodes, and will come to a close on June 16. As you're waiting for new episodes to be released weekly, you can also check out what's newly coming to Hulu throughout the month of May.