The World Premiere of ‘The Testaments’ Kicks Off Series Mania
The world premiere of the prequel to The Handmaid’s Tale, titled The Testaments, is set to take place at this year’s Series Mania festival.
Showrunner Bruce Miller, known for his work on The Handmaid’s Tale and Eureka, along with members of his creative team, will be present at the event. Organizers have highlighted Series Mania’s important role as a “strategic launch platform for premium international content.”
The Testaments marks a significant release for Hulu and Disney+ internationally this year. Scheduled to debut two weeks after Series Mania, the series is set in the oppressive regime of Gilead, taking place over 15 years after the events of The Handmaid’s Tale. It explores the challenges faced by a new generation of young women confronting an uncertain future. The cast includes Ann Dowd, reprising her role from The Handmaid’s Tale, alongside Chase Infiniti and Lucy Halliday.
In another highlight, the Peaky Blinders film, The Immortal Man, will be screened during the same week it launches on Netflix. Series Mania opens on March 20, coinciding with the Peaky film’s debut.
The festival has also announced its international competition lineup for 2026, indicating a shift towards more focused editorial positioning and impactful storytelling. Organizers acknowledged that the TV drama sector is facing a “contracting market” with fewer series, shorter formats, and reduced episode counts.
Among the competition entries is AMC’s The Audacity, created by Jonathan Glatzer, featuring Billy Magnussen as a tech CEO caught in a scandal.
Featured Britishseries include A24 and Molly Manning Walker’s Major Players, centered on women’s soccer for Channel 4, as well as the BBC adaptation of the prison memoir Waiting for the Out. Additionally, Dustfall, an Australian “tropic noir” murder mystery, has been acquired by the BBC and is being sold by Federation.
Other entries in the competition comprise Disney+ Latin America’s Dear Killer Nannies, HBO Max France’s Paolo, Movistar’s The Anatomy of a Moment, HBO Max Poland’s Love is Enough, and the Nordic co-production My Brother.
Details regarding the jury for the international competition will be announced soon. In addition, the international panorama competition features three BBC productions: Babies, Small Prophets, and Prisoner 951.
Series Mania will take place from March 20 to 27, showcasing industry luminaries such as Russell T. Davies and Nicola Shindler, Disney+ EMEA content chief Angela Jain, and Fremantle’s Jennifer Mullin.
