You may be feeling some dystopian series fatigue, especially if you think that 2017 will be the herald of the United States' own dystopian future, but The Handmaid's Tale is one you should overcome your reservations for. Based on Margaret Atwood's award-winning novel, the upcoming Hulu series stars Elisabeth Moss (yet another reason to watch) as a Offred, a woman living in a totalitarian society where women are considered property of the state.

There's a little bit of Children of Men involved here too, as Offred is part of a small caste of fertile women being kept in servitude and used to repopulate the broken land. Her journey through this terrifyingly bleak world (where anyone could be a spy) is focused on her desire to find a daughter who was taken from her. Yeah, it's dark!

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Image via Hulu

The series, which comes from The 100's Bruce Miller, also stars Joseph Fiennes, Yvonne Strahovski, Samira Wiley, Max Minghella, Madeline Brewer, Ann Dowd and O-T Fagbenle, so indeed, it's stacked with talent. It's also one of the series I'm most looking forward to in the new year.

Here's the synopsis, along with more character portraits below. For more premiere dates in 2017, be sure to check out our TV Premiere Calendar.

The drama series, based on the award-winning, best-selling novel by Margaret Atwood, is the story of life in the dystopia of Gilead, a totalitarian society in what was formerly part of the United States. Facing environmental disasters and a plunging birthrate, Gilead is ruled by a twisted fundamentalist regime that treats women as property of the state. As one of the few remaining fertile women, Offred (Elisabeth Moss) is a Handmaid in the Commander’s household, one of the caste of women forced into sexual servitude as a last desperate attempt to repopulate a devastated world. In this terrifying society where one wrong word could end her life, Offred navigates between Commanders, their cruel Wives, domestic Marthas, and her fellow Handmaids – where anyone could be a spy for Gilead – all with one goal: to survive and find the daughter that was taken from her.

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