by Albert Rodriguez - SGN A&E Writer

If you STILL haven't seen Season 1 of 'The Handmaid's Tale,' you have time to binge-watch it before Season 2 is released on April 25.

The highly acclaimed TV series, which collected a slew of Emmys, Golden Globes, Screen Actors Guild and Critics Choice awards during the fall and winter seasons, became a global phenomenon when audiences from Canada to the UK to Australia expressed their amazement and overall approval of the show, which is an adaptation of Margaret Atwood's 1985 dystopian novel.

All of Season 1's principal cast is returning to the action, most importantly its leading tour-de-force Elisabeth Moss (Offred/June Osborne), along with Ann Dowd (Aunt Lydia), Joseph Fiennes (The Commander), Madeline Brewer (Janine) and Max Minghella (Nick).

What series producer and writer Bruce Miller did brilliantly for the television drama is modernize the story from the book to include characters that represent today's society, mainly a thoughtful assemblage of LGBT and African-American people. Among them is Alexis Bledel, who delivered one of last season's most gut-wrenching scenes when her character Ofglen/Emily and Lesbian partner are found guilty by a supreme council within The Republic of Gilead and given the harshest of sentences.

Also returning to Season 2 is Moira, Offred's best friend who is Gay as well, played by Samira Wiley. But coming on board to The Handmaid's Tale this season is Cherry Jones, who is openly Lesbian in real life and will star as Offred's mother. I can't wait for the scenes between those two!

SPOILER ALERT: Don't read past this if you haven't viewed Season 1 yet.

So, where did we leave off? For starters, Offred was whisked away by Nick to Lord knows where, and he did it in front of a fuming Commander and his wife. In the trailers released by Hulu, the online network with exclusive rights to air the series, Offred appears to be in big trouble and to have been forced back to Gilead. Will she be reunited with her daughter, or husband Luke (O.T. Fanbengle)? Will she be returned to The Commander and his wife? What will happen to Nick, for his role in assisting with Offred's authorized release?

And what will happen to Ofglen? Punished brutally after her relationship with her 'Martha' wife is discovered, along with the fact she was part of the resistance group Mayday, it'll be very interesting to see how the character is developed, seeing as in the book she commits suicide. And speaking of taking her own life, Janine survived her jump off the bridge. Remember Aunt Lydia calling her a 'stupid girl' as she lay on a hospital bed in a coma? Will Miller extend the storyline of Janine wanting custody of her daughter, or will she succumb to Gilead's unremitting law?

Will the resistance make any strides - I mean, we've gotta cheer for someone, right? - or, will The Republic of Gilead gain power?

Perhaps the biggest reason so many of us are invested in this series is the eerie timing of it. We're living in this world, we're living in Gilead. Maybe not in Seattle, but there are places on this planet right now where women are subjected to abuse and torture as a result of deep religious practices. Women being stripped of their rights, their families and their dignity is a real thing, even in the year 2018.

We need answers to many questions, so here's hoping Season 2 of 'THT' takes us on another wild, intense, shocking, surprising and emotional ride. Hurry up, April 25!

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