Amazon takes co-premiere rights for Handmaid’s Tale for UK

Amazon Prime Video has taken co-premiere rights in the UK and Ireland to the fifth season of The Handmaid’s Tale, following the retail giant’s acquisition of the show’s producer last year.

The drama is from MGM Television and has been sold around the world by the US studio, including to Channel 4 in the UK, which had debuted the show’s first four seasons.

Those exclusive premiere rights are now being shared on the fifth season with Amazon, which acquired MGM for $8.5bn in 2021 in a deal that handed it rights to more than 4,000 film titles and more than 17,000 TV episodes from shows such as Fargo and Vikings.

It is the latest signal that Amazon is leveraging its ownership of MGM, following news that the Prime Video streamer had greenlit a competition show based on the James Bond franchise, which also recently became part of the retail giant’s empire.

Last month, Hulu confirmed it would be ending The Handmaid’s Tale after its sixth season, although a spin-off is in the works from showrunner Bruce Miller.

Hulu greenlit the sixth season ahead of the season five premiere, which debuted in the US on the Disney and NBCUniversal-owned streamer on 14 September. The show’s first four seasons are already available on Amazon prime Video in the UK and Ireland.