Elisabeth Moss Wanted to Direct. âThe Handmaidâs Taleâ Was Her Chance.
The showâs star talked about hopping behind the camera for three episodes this season, including this weekâs, and about the scenes that made her cry while doing it.
Elisabeth Moss, in the pink hat, directing a scene from Season 4, Episode 9 of âThe Handmaidâs Tale,â featuring Stephen Kunken, far left, and Joseph Fiennes, center.Credit.Sophie Giraud/Hulu
By Jennifer Vineyard
June 9, 2021, 3:17 p.m. ET
This interview contains spoilers through Episode 9 of Season 4 of âThe Handmaidâs Tale.â
Elisabeth Moss was already the star and an executive producer on âThe Handmaidâs Tale.â But this season, she also became a director, helming three episodes that display a flair for visual language. (The last of them, Episode 9, debuted Wednesday on Hulu.)
As inevitable as it was, June s escape has shaken
The Handmaid s Tale to its core. And it s not just her story that s changed in season four either. All of Gilead is reeling from the aftermath of June s getaway, although perhaps no one has been impacted by it more than Aunt Lydia.
Actor Ann Dowd herself points out (via
Elle) that what June did is Lydia s all-time worst-case scenario: She holds herself responsible. So do the commanders. She knew something was happening. She knew it. And she did not follow it to its core. And June, whom she has a tremendously complicated relationship with, pulled it off. So there’s that personal factor where she’s being tough on herself because she knows all of that, and also desperate to prove that, No, no, no, I’m not irrelevant.
'The Handmaid's Tale' explores the power dynamics between June and the Waterfords, but also the complex relationships created by Gilead’s social pyramid.
Girl One by Sara Flannery Murphy, 37, released in the UK next week echoes the story of Emmimarie Jones, who was thrown into the spotlight in 1956 in Britain after claiming she had a virgin birth.