‘The Handmaid’s Tale’: Hulu Gives Us A First Look At The Dystopian Thriller

When Margaret Atwood published The Handmaid’s Tale in 1985, it was meant as a dystopian horror story. Now, Hulu‘s star-studded TV adaptation of the novel might be the most prescient show of the Spring 2017 season. Hulu gave us a look at the show during today’s Winter TCA presentation.

If you’re unfamiliar with the original novel (or 1990 film), The Handmaid’s Tale takes place in an America that has been broken down and overtaken by a fundamentalist religious coup. Elisabeth Moss plays Offred, a woman who has lost her husband, child, name, freedom, and autonomy, in the new regime. Here, she is the property of The Commander (Joseph Fiennes) and exists to bear his child. The series is grim in tone, but seethes with the tone of rebellion.

Elisabeth Moss was out and proud about how badly she coveted the role of Offred. She said that after reading the pilot, “I could not stand the idea of anyone else doing it. As a competitive actor, I was like, ‘NOPE.'”

Alexis Bledel, best-known for playing Rory Gilmore on Gilmore Girls, plays Ofglen, a slyly rebellious Handmaid. Bledel said, “For me, this role is an incredible opportunity to delve a bit deeper.” Moss added, “We were all completely blown away [by her performance].”

There are always challenges in adapting a well-loved book for screen. The Handmaid’s Tale comes with the baggage of being a famous dystopian novel that defies categorization. Creator and Executive Producer Bruce Miller said, “I would say it’s a thriller. Because we’re always terrified something bad’s going to happen to Offred.” He also said he didn’t think the show was specifically timely — “Every time someone reads [the book] is someone says, ‘This is timely” — but he wrote the pilot during last year’s Presidential primaries. Miller said, “None of us could ignore what was happening…so we were of course mindful of that.”

Samira Wiley, who plays Moira, said, “I do think this is the time that we are living in now and it is our responsibility as artists to reflect the time we are living in…This show is showing us about the climate that we’re living in and for me, I think personal issues are specifically women and our bodies and who has control of it.”

One of the bigger changes made from book to screen? The Commander and his wife Serena Joy (Yvonne Strahovski) are much younger than they are in the book. Miller explained why he made the change. “I think when you have a novel and when you have a TV show, the dynamics of the relationships have to be slightly different. I was very mindful of the relationship between Serena Joy and Offred. It bugged me when I saw the movie that Serena Joy was beyond child-bearing years. It felt like they weren’t in direct competition, that Offred wasn’t taking the role that Serena more than anything wanted for herself,” said Miller.

The first three episodes of the series are directed by acclaimed cinematographer Reed Morano. She brought a “painterly” canvas of colors to the digital photographer and used intense close ups to tell the story. “The way we could get closest to her,” Morano explained, “…is if we’re right up in her face.”

Even though Hulu has only ordered one season of the series so far, Miller made no secret that he would like the show to continue past these first 10 episodes. When asked how many seasons he wanted to see, he joked, “200! What do you think?”

The Handmaid’s Tale premieres on Hulu on April 26, 201