Offred on the run as Handmaid’s returns
PASADENA, Calif. — The wrenching loss of an infant to a totalitarian society is explored in Season 2 of The Handmaid’s Tale, star Elisabeth Moss and the show’s producers said.
The series based on Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel begins with Moss’s character on the run when it returns to Bravo on April 25 (later on CraveTV). Offred is a pregnant “handmaid,” one of those used to breed children in a futuristic society where many women are infertile.
Moss, an executive producer on the show, said she and series creator-executive producer Bruce Miller often discussed “this child growing inside her as a bit of a ticking time bomb,” one destined to be born in tragic circumstances.
“When she does have the baby, the baby gets taken away from her,” Moss told TV critics Sunday. “It makes for good drama.”
Season 2 also visits the colonies mentioned in Atwood’s 1985 book but not depicted in the first season, executive producer Warren Littlefield said. A bigger production budget helped the series venture afield.
MGM Television and Hulu “embraced that we were ambitious. We’re still in a world of television, it’s a pretty controlled budget,” Littlefield said. He didn’t offer specific figures.
Broadening the story doesn’t mean the series will desert its source material, Miller said.
“I don’t think anything we do is post-Atwood,” he said. “It’s an expansion of that world. I certainly don’t think we’re going beyond the story that she was telling. She remains the mother of the series.”
The Handmaid’s Tale has drawn critical acclaim, an armload of 2017 Emmys and, earlier this month, a best series Golden Globe and best actress trophy for Moss. Oscar-winner Marisa Tomei guest stars in episode two, the producers said.