"The Handmaid's Tale" is filming in D.C. and the photos are super powerful

Dystopian Hulu series "The Handmaid's Tale" was filming on the National Mall Friday — delighting fans and potentially confusing onlookers. Stars Elisabeth Moss, Yvonne Strahovski and Joseph Fiennes were spotted on the set, according to social media posts. 

Fans of the show were thrilled to get a glimpse into the newest season as a fleet of handmaids lined up on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. 

Some onlookers initially thought the actors in red cloaks and white bonnets may have been protesters, a nod to the parallels between the show and real life. Demonstrators dressed as handmaids during the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh last fall. In 2017, a similar protest occurred during Vice President Mike Pence's visit to Colorado.

"Says something about 2019 that we had to see this up close to figure out if it was a protest or filming for the 'Handmaid's Tale' season 3. (It's the latter)," reporter Rachel Bluth tweeted. 

A trailer for the award-winning drama's third season debuted during the Super Bowl earlier this month. The trailer ended with a shot of handmaids surrounding a reflecting pool in Gilead's capital with a cross at the far end where the Washington Monument should be. "They should have never given us uniforms if they didn't want us to be an army," Moss' character June says.

In:
• The Handmaid's Tale
• Washington D.C.