Elisabeth Moss, star of Hulu’s adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, has promised “emotional complexity” in the second season of the show. With most of Atwood’s seminal novel covered by season 1, The Handmaid’s Tale season 2 will tread new ground and add new chapters to the story.
In an interview with Variety, Moss said this about season 2, and what her challenges have been as an actor this time around:
“There’s an emotional complexity to this season […] Last year we dealt with a lot of big issues and a lot of big, emotional moments. This season is more complex and almost more mature emotionally, dealing with things that are really tricky. Performance-wise it’s been incredibly challenging. You’re really diving into some complex, emotional work. That’s our way of elevating it performance-wise this year.”
Series creator Bruce Miller revealed in the same article that terrorism will play a part in the season. He added this, teasing what that might mean:
“Big forces are fighting and you’re just this one human being […] So we have a lot of stuff with Mayday and the other rebel groups that are fighting. There’s also the people who are fighting from Canada to make things better. What it’s like to live in a place where there’s instability and what does that instability feels like? And for The Commander, what is it like to be in control of this, going from inexperience to a big role of leadership? Americans can definitely relate.”
This sounds like it could be a really interesting season, which builds on Atwood’s novel in some big thematic ways. The Handmaid’s Tale return date in the USA is April 25th, but the UK premiere date hasn’t been confirmed yet.
More as we hear it.