The small screen adaptation of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale is gathering its cast. Joseph Fiennes signed on recently and Elisabeth Moss was already aboard. Now Yvonne Strahovski will join them.
Atwood's story is set in an unspecified, dark future where a totalitarian society known as Gilead (once part of the United States) has embraced a twisted religious fundamentalism as the way to combat environmental chaos and a dropping birthrate. The leaders consider women to be property of the state, and fertile women are highly valued while being treated essentially as sexual slaves. Moss' Offred is the "handmaid" at Commander Waterford's (Fiennes) estate and is part of the effort to repopulate the world.
She has to find a way to survive in a world of cruel leaders, domestic servants and spies, while also searching for the daughter that was taken from her. It's the sort of story that still has resonance in today's religiously split world and hopefully a TV series will offer the length and depth to explore it in ways a film can't. Strahovski has won the role of Serena Joy, Waterford's wife and one of the influential public figures who fought for the establishment of Gilead.
With Bruce Miller serving as creator, head writer and show-runner, the series will kick off shooting in Toronto this autumn for a 10-episode first season.
Strahovski was last seen in I, Frankenstein and is part of the cast for thriller All I see Is You and upcoming horror He's Out There.