The Handmaid’s Tale fans react to season 4 as episode 1 drops early

‘15 minutes in and I’m already having a nervous breakdown,’ one viewer wrote

The Handmaid’s Tale fans have been treated to season four a little earlier than planned.

Hulu was set to release the show on 28 April but decided to shorten the wait at the last moment.

At 6pm PT Tuesday (27 April) – that’s 2am BST in the early hours of Wednesday (28 April) in the UK – the streaming service dropped the first three episodes of the new season.

These episodes are called “Pigs”, “Nightshade” and “The Crossing”, the latter of which was directed by the show’s lead star, Elisabeth Moss.

The remaining seven instalments will be released in the US weekly, with a UK return date yet to be announced by Channel 4.

Fans have been reacting to the new season on Twitter, with many highlighting that the show is as tense as ever.

Speaking about the Margaret Atwood adaptation’s return in an interview with Deadline, Moss said: “I think this season is about fulfilling a lot of the things we’ve hinted at. By that I mean, I know you want it to go in this direction, but it’s not going to go there yet.”

Moss stars in the show as June Osborne/Offred, one of many women serving as Handmaids in Gilead – a totalitarian state that’s replaced what we know as the United States.

Find a recap of everything that happened in the show’s previous season here.