If there was any doubt thatElisabeth Mosshad a long, fruitful career beyond her extraordinary work as Peggy onMad Men, they should have been extinguished by now. Even when the show was still on, she had a great sense for material, fromJane Campion’s sublime Kiwi crime epicTop of the Laketo her two master-class performances forAlex Ross PerryinQueen of EarthandListen Up Philip. Since, she’s booked a second season ofTop of the Lakeand she will star alongsideDominic WestinThe Square,Ruben Östlund’s follow-up to his belovedForce Majeure.
Most important, however, is her return to television. Well, streaming, actually: she is currently filming Hulu’s ambitious adaptation ofMargaret Atwood’s classicThe Handmaiden’s Tale, a blazingly furious and alarmingly timely tale of women’s sublimation by a dystopian misogynist society. Check out the synopsis below for more details or, better yet, pick up the book; it remains a stunningly moving and engrossing read from beginning to end. And while you wait for the series to premiere this coming April, you may check out the first four images from the series below, featuring Moss and co-starJoseph Fiennesin the most important supporting role, that of The Commander.
Here are the first images fromThe Handmaiden’s Tale:
Here’s the official synopsis forThe Handmaiden’s Tale:
The drama series, based on the award-winning, best-selling novel by Margaret Atwood, is the story of life in the dystopia of Gilead, a totalitarian society in what was formerly part of the United States. Facing environmental disasters and a plunging birthrate, Gilead is ruled by a twisted fundamentalist regime that treats women as property of the state. As one of the few remaining fertile women, Offred (Elisabeth Moss) is a Handmaid in the Commander’s household, one of the caste of women forced into sexual servitude as a last desperate attempt to repopulate a devastated world. In this terrifying society where one wrong word could end her life, Offred navigates between Commanders, their cruel Wives, domestic Marthas, and her fellow Handmaids – where anyone could be a spy for Gilead – all with one goal: to survive and find the daughter that was taken from her.
