Some of the images in the latest “Handmaid’s Tale” teaser are shockingly familiar. Tagged “Her Story is Our Story,” the clip features glimpses of a protest — not unlike the Women’s March — where we see signs like “HUMAN RIGHTS = WOMEN’S RIGHTS” and “A WOMAN’S CHOICE, WOMEN’S VOICE.” If you didn’t already know that the dystopian America of “The Handmaid’s Tale” isn’t a far cry from our own, you will after watching this footage.
Set to an eerie, haunting rendition of “Amazing Grace,” it makes clear, in no uncertain terms, that Offred’s life could be our life.
Starring “Mad Men’s” Elisabeth Moss as Offred, “The Handmaid’s Tale” is based on Margaret Atwood’s novel of the same name. The story is set in “Gilead, a totalitarian society in what was formerly part of the United States,” the show’s official synopsis details. “Facing environmental disasters and a plunging birthrate, Gilead is ruled by a twisted religious fundamentalism that treats women as property of the state. As one of the few remaining fertile women, Offred 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.”
Samira Wiley (“Orange Is the New Black”), Alexis Bledel (“Gilmore Girls”), Yvonne Strahovski (“Chuck”), O.T. Fagbenle (“Looking”), Joseph Fiennes (“American Horror Story: Asylum”), and Max Minghella (“The Social Network”) also star.
The limited series is directed in part by Reed Morano, who made her directorial debut with 2015’s “Meadowland,” a drama about parents struck by tragedy starring Olivia Wilde. Moss co-starred in the film. The actress is best-known for portraying the iconic Peggy Olson on “Mad Men” from 2007–15. You can catch Moss next in the second season of Jane Campion’s “Top of the Lake” alongside Nicole Kidman and Gwendoline Christie (“Game of Thrones”).
“The Handmaid’s Tale” premieres April 26 on Hulu.
