'The Handmaid's Tale' star Elisabeth Moss dishes on season 5
Viewers will return to Gilead Wednesday with the premiere of a new season of "The Handmaid’s Tale" on Hulu.
After that big death at the end of last season, Elisabeth Moss, the star and director of several of this season’s episodes, told ABC Audio that her character June has been left spiraling.
"I think she thought that she was going to feel better after killing Fred. I think she thought that that was going to ... bring her some relief or bring her some peace. And it doesn't because violence is not the answer," she explained.
"Killing this one person might have made her feel good for an hour, but it doesn't actually solve anything and it doesn't bring Gilead down," the Emmy award winning actress continued. "It doesn't get her daughter back. And that's a horrible realization."
Executive producer Warren Littlefield, meanwhile, spoke of Gilead -- the patriarchal, totalitarian theonomic state in which "The Handmaid's Tale is set -- comparing its society to real-life events, specifically the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade earlier this year.
That decision reversed the decades-old ruling that protected the right to abortion at a federal level, sending the issue back to the states, many of which have since enacted near-total bans on abortion.
"I think after the Supreme Court made their Roe v Wade decision, you know, we are closer to Gilead than ever before, and that scares the s*** out of us," Littlefield said.
Moss added that everyone had been "devastated" by the Supreme Court ruling. "At the same time, we also feel, I think, proud that we're doing something and providing a voice or a safe space for people, that we feel like we're on the right side here," she added. "And I think there's pride in that."
As for what fans can expect from season 5, showrunner Bruce Miller said that "one of the biggest themes of the season is trying to get clean after trauma."
"... The impossibility of getting clean is really one of the themes of the season -- that you kind of move on with the scars you have," Miller said. "You don't leave them behind."
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