The last time we saw Offred in Gilead, it was in an intense, uncertain moment: She, pregnant, had stepped into a vehicle sent to take her to a mysterious location, and given that the source material of Margaret Atwood's dystopian novel concludes with this very scene, we didn't have any assurance that things weren't about to get a whole lot worse for the rebellious heroine of The Handmaid's Tale.

Now that the trailer for the second season is here, we still don't know what happens to Offred. What we do know is that it isn't good.


With a haunting cover of Buffalo Springfield's '60s anthem "For What It's Worth" playing in the background, we're given a cruel glimpse of what's in store for Offred, Moira, Luke, Nick, Aunt Lydia, and the rest of the Handmaid's Tale's characters in (and far away from) Gilead. We're introduced to new landscapes that conjure images of the American frontier, with dismal cornfields and plains of tall grass giving way to manual labor and violence at the hand of the Commander. We see Offred wearing a horrifying mask not unlike the one Ofglen wore before shit really hit the fan at the onset of the first season, but we don't see the hint of a baby bump that made an appearance just before she got in that van.

We see that Offred and Nick briefly embrace, and that Luke and Moira are still together and far from the oppressive regime that's taken their loved ones from them — but those seem to be the only bright spots, as there's enough doom and darkness in this brief minute to make us genuinely nervous for what's to come.

Elisabeth Moss just won a Golden Globe for her portrayal of Offred, so expect to see more excellent work from her and the rest of the cast when The Handmaid's Tale returns on April 25.