The Handmaid's Tale season two trailer: hope, pain '“ and the colonies

A trailer for season two of The Handmaid's Tale has just been released. And it reveals some tantalising glimpses of what viewers can expect when we return to the dystopian world of Gilead.

Complete with stunning cinematography, we are finally introduced to the infamous 'colonies' where enemies of the theocratic regime are sent.

Stark rural wheatfields, where prisoners are forced to work the land while guards ride around them on horseback, evokes imagery akin to chain-gangs and slave plantations.

We also see a haunted-looking Serena Joy, an anguished Aunt Lydia (who was shown to be steadily more and more conflicted last time around), and Commander Waterford apparently preparing to execute a prisoner.

Offred is also shown bearing the same hideous mouth-gag that Emily/Ofglen was forced to wear in one of season one's most horrifying episodes.

Things don't look good for our protagonist. But there are suggestions of hope.

Nick and Offred share a romantic moment, while Offred is also seen with Luke and their daughter (though this is potentially another flashback).

What's clear is that the regime is clamping down - but that the resistance within Gilead is growing in response.

'Battle lines are being drawn'

This teaser trailer also continues the show's tradition for apt use of pop music.

Soundtracked by a mournful cover of Buffalo's Springfield's 'For What's It's Worth', we hear the lyrics: "There's a man with a gun over there, telling me I got to beware", and "battle lines are being drawn".