The Handmaid’s Tale’s New Bethlehem Is Commander Lawrence’s ‘Naive’ Vision for a State Independent of Gilead
A new society is bubbling in Gilead. It’s a place in The Handmaid’s Tale where refugees and people who have been fed up by the country’s antics can thrive and explore new opportunities, but will it last?
Commander Lawerence (Bradley Whitford) has a vision for a new place where women have greater freedoms than their current state in Gilead. New Bethlehem also serves as a political experiment and a way to attract potential investors who will see the territory’s progress compared to Gilead’s corrupt ways. Lawrence tempts June (Elisabeth Moss) to join the new settlement because their views align, but she still explores the opportunity further in Season 6 alongside New Bethlehem supporter Serena Joy Whitford (Yvonne Strahovski).
The Handmaid’s Tale takes place in what was formerly the United States. The capital still revolves in Washington DC and we see flashbacks before Gilead was put into power in places like Boston.
Where is New Bethlehem?
New Bethlehem has to be somewhere around Gileadean territories, on which the story is based in Boston. Commander Lawerence has to head back to the greater area of Gilead, so it would make sense for New Bethlehem to be in the New England area. However, the filming location is in the Crystal Beach community on the northeast shore of Lake Erie.
Bradley Whitford told Screen Rant that he feels like his character is hopeful of the experiment succeeding and becoming independent of Gilead. “I think what he’s betting on is economic power, and I worry about this in real life. I worry that we’re never going to deal with climate change until Florida and California are uninsurable. Economic imperatives power moral decisions, unfortunately. But I think that’s the angle.
As for the future of the settlement, Whitford says Lawerence’s experiment might work in the long run. “I think he’s hopeful, and I think the early signs are good that he can turn this into kind of a Hong Kong, and make the North Korea situation a little more of a China situation. He may be naive, but we’ll see. Fingers crossed.”
