What excited you the most about bringing The Testaments to TV after spending so many years in the world of Gilead? And how different is it compared to making The Handmaid's Tale?

Um, well, I, I was excited because, in fact, we hadn't seen very much of Gilead.

I, I, I mean, that's the whole point of Handmaids, is that the, the point of view is tiny.

I mean, the whole first season is not only in her house, it's mostly in her room.

So the restricted point of view of The Handmaid's Tale is kind of what makes it a scary show.

So here, I was fascinated by the idea of a completely different restricted point of view, so restricted for different reasons.

And some of the things that I liked about it was that June came from a very free place, and she had all that freedom stripped from her.

Right

What excited you the most about bringing The Testaments to TV after spending so many years in the world of Gilead? And how different is it compared to making The Handmaid's Tale?

Um, well, I, I was excited because, in fact, we hadn't seen very much of Gilead.

I, I, I mean, that's the whole point of Handmaids, is that the, the point of view is tiny.

I mean, the whole first season is not only in her house, it's mostly in her room.

So the restricted point of view of The Handmaid's Tale is kind of what makes it a scary show.

So here I was fascinated by the idea of a completely different restricted point of view.

So restricted for different reasons.

Right

What excited you the most about bringing The Testaments to TV after spending so many years in the world of Gilead? And how different is it compared to making The Handmaid's Tale?

Um, well, I, I was excited because, in fact, we hadn't seen very much of Gilead.

I, I, I mean, that's the whole point of Handmaids is that the, the point of view is tiny.

I mean, the whole first season is not only in her house, it's mostly in her room.

So the restricted point of view of The Handmaid's Tale is kind of what makes it a scary show.

So here, I was fascinated by the idea of a completely different restricted point of view, so restricted for different reasons.

And some of the things that I liked about it was that June came from a very free place, and she had all that freedom stripped from her.

Right

What's happened in Gilead and the rest of the world in between the two series?

Well, I think, uh, Gilead is been punched, and like a lot of, uh, people who get punched, they're very angry and punching back.

So I think that, that, that, uh, what happened at the end of The Handmaid's Tale really brought Gilead down a notch, and they're hurting, although they're trying everything they can to make the world inside look unbruised.

So as much as possible, it's life during wartime, but the, the, uh, women, the young women on our show don't see that and don't feel that.

So I, I think where we are is thatGilead is desperately trying to keep things normal, and the rest of the world is starting to encroach, and Gilead is starting to weaken.

But there's nothing more dangerous, I think, than Gilead kind of weakened and on their back- back legs.

I think it's very scary, especially what they'll do to this next generation of women.

Mm

and updates us on the effects for the season 4.5 story arc.

We do a lot of visual effects on our show.

In order to do them well, it takes a very, very long time.

And considering the stuff that we can do on our budget is every year, quadruples.

I mean, I've been in television a long time.

I was on ER, and one time on ER we had to put in flies in a scene.

And I remember the difference between flies and three-dimensional flies was like $140,000.

Now, after you did the alternate timeline and all that last year, did you feel that you had to maybe top that to finish off 4.5? Are you pretty secure in where you guys are right

What's happened in Gilead and the rest of the world in between the two series?

Well, I think, uh, Gilead is been punched, and like a lot of, uh, people who get punched, they're very angry and punching back.

So I think that, that, that, uh, what happened at the end of The Handmaid's Tale really brought Gilead down a notch, and they're hurting, although they're trying everything they can to make the world inside look unbruised.

So as much as possible, it's life during wartime, but the, the, uh, women, the young women on our show don't see that and don't feel that.

So I, I think where we are is that-Gilead is desperately trying to keep things normal, and the rest of the world is starting to encroach and Gilead is starting to weaken.

But there's nothing more dangerous, I think, than Gilead kind of weakened and on their back- back legs.

I think it's very scary, especially what they'll do to this next generation of women.

Um, Bruce, what opportunities did that shifting structure present to you when you were adapting this?

Isn't that interesting? Did they tell you at all what kind of music to compose? Did they give you any instructions or limitations?

Well, knowing Linda as I do, and having done Designing Women for so many years, Linda loves melodies.

So for her, I write melodies when for a lot of others, my first inclination would be to make it a little more background, a little less memorable.

She wants memorable, always.

And, uh, so I kinda knew about that.

And then besides that, uh, she was very open about what she liked.

I did it that, that one I did it actually with my son, Jason, who's great guitar player and, and amazing producer and composer.

How did you get into there?