Super Bowl Sunday is an unofficial American tradition, and ads often play into patriotism a bit when brands decide to advertise on the biggest stage in the world. That’s why it’s no surprise that The Handmaid’s Tale decided to use a presidential speech in a trailer for season 3 of the Hulu smash.
We saw a teaser of the ad earlier in the week, but Super Bowl Sunday saw the full 30-second spot aired early in the first quarter of Super Bowl 53 between the New England Patriots and Los Angeles Rams.
The spot begins with a narrative of a Ronald Reagan speech, his famous “Morning In America” narrative where he speaks of a new dawn for the country. The ad shows people working in fields before the unmistakable uniform of the show’s citizens appears on screen.
“More women will go to work than ever before in our country’s history,” the narration said as a Wife gets dressed and then grabs a shovel.
But then, as “it’s morning again” begins to repeat and the narration gets warped, things get dark. Fires rage. Dark scenes flash on the screen. And the spot ends with Elizabeth Moss’s June, looking stern and menacing, changing the narrative by saying: “Wake up, America.”
The ad included a shot of the National Mall in Washington D.C., where the Washington Monument has had some structurally questionable but religiously significant changes made to it. Handmaids line up in formation at the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, and the spot seems to imply that Moss’s character was inside the structure when she told America to wake up.
There’s no word on exactly when season three will drop, but “coming soon” will have to suffice for now.
