Handmaid’s Tale season 5: Ann Dowd reveals when filming begins and teases ‘fantastic’ episode 1

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Ann Dowd has shared an exciting update about The Handmaid’s Tale season five – and is hyping the new episodes up in a big way.

The actor, who has played Aunt Lydia on the Hulu series since it began in 2017, teased forthcoming episodes ahead of the release of her new film Mass.

When asked when cameras would begin rolling on the fifth season of Bruce Miller’s adaptation of the Margaret Atwood novel, Dowd confirmed to The Independent: “We begin shooting in February.”

The fourth season drew to a close in June 2021, ending on a “powerful” cliffhanger.

For those concerned that the drama might be running out of steam, it seems this is not the case; if anything, it sounds like the best is yet to come.

“I’ve read the first couple of episodes and all I can say is they’re so good. I just didn’t see any of this stuff coming. To be able to get to season five and you’re thinking, ‘What?!’”

She clarified: “Not in an outlandish way where you’re thinking, ‘Wait a minute, how could that happen?’ It’s like: ‘[gasps] that is fantastic.’ It’s really good.

Dowd added: “There’s stuff that happens that’s like, ‘Woah, woah, woah.’”

The actor appears alongside Martha Plimpton, Jason Isaacs and Reed Birney in Mass, which has just been released in Sky Cinema and NOW in the UK.

The drama from debut writer-director Fran Kranz is essentially a four-hander focused on two sets of parents who meet for a painful conversation in the aftermath of a violent tragedy – namely a high school massacre in which one set of parents, played by Martha and Isaacs, lost their child at the hands of the other set’s son.

Speaking about the film, Dowd explained why she has no plans to watch it.

Mass is available to watch on Sky Cinema and NOW.