Elisabeth Moss Hopes The Handmaid's Tale Will Leave Viewers With a Sense of Hope

Since Margaret Atwood published The Handmaid's Tale in 1985, fans, feminists and scholars have praised the work for its compelling take on what happens when the ever-present darkness coursing through polite society breaks free from its restraints.

Set in the near-future America after a totalitarian, Christian-fundamentalist regime has taken over, both Atwood's original work and Hulu's new series depicts a world in which the few fertile women left in the country are conscripted as "handmaids" to infertile, wealthy and politically connected couples who use -- ie: sexually assault -- the handmaid in the hopes of attaining a child.

[...] while Hulu's adaptation of The Handmaid's Tale expands the story far beyond Offred's point of view, she remains the viewers' guide to this bleak new world as the audience follows her attempts to navigate the delicate social politics within the Commander's household, all while trying to maintain a sense of hope that she will one day find her daughter again.

Not only was it the lead role in an adaptation of one of the most celebrated modern feminist novels, but it was the kind of complex female role that, while they are becoming more common, are still far from the norm.

Hulu's The Handmaid's Tale is a disturbing reflection of the times

Because of her role as a producer, Moss got the opportunity to help direct how the show tackled her character's repeated sexual assaults -- a topic many shows struggle with that is made that much more complicated by Offred's learned silence.

[...] while Offred approaches these monthly rapes with a sense of resignation and never attempts to say no, Moss and the other producers wanted there to be no confusion: "It was very, very important to us that it was a sexual assault," Moss says.

During the rape scenes, in which Offred is cradled, fully dressed, between Serena's legs while the Commander dispassionately pumps away, there is a feeling of numbness an