High Stakes At Hulu For Handmaid's Tale

The streamer needs a zeitgeist hit amid its live TV launch and a search for a content chief

- Lesley Goldberg And Natalie Jarvey

Can The Handmaid’s Tale do for Hulu what six years and hundreds of millions of dollars has not? The Elisabeth Moss dystopian drama, picked up straight-to-series following a bidding war with FX, is a key element in Hulu’s effort to become part of the watercooler conversation, an effort that began with 2016 miniseries 11.22.63 and includes the upcoming J.J. Abrams-Stephen King anthology Castle Rock as well as 9/11 drama The Looming Tower.

The goal, says Hulu head of content Craig Erwich, is to transition Hulu originals “off the arts and entertainment pages and onto the culture pages,” where rivals Netflix and Amazon regularly appear.