‘We Will Not Forget!’ Elisabeth Moss Sets Up June’s Jeopardous Journey in Season 4 of THE HANDMAID’S TALE

By BILL HARRIS Special to The Lede In addition to being the star of THE HANDMAID’S TALE, as well as one of the executive producers, Elisabeth Moss has taken on even more responsibility. Moss also directed three of the 10 episodes in Season 4, which debuts on Wednesday, April 28 with two new episodes, streaming on Crave, and on CTV Drama Channel at 9 p.m. ET. As if she didn’t already have enough to do! “I mean, I love this show so much, and I respect it and value it so much, I just don’t take it for granted,” Moss said in a virtual panel interview with TV reporters. “I’ve been acting for 32 years, and you can’t take this kind of a job for granted, these kinds of scripts for granted, and this opportunity for granted. So for me, I just wanted to do it justice. I wanted to live up to the show, live up to the material, and live up to this thing that I’m so proud of.” Having been nominated for 54 EMMY® Awards, with 15 wins – including Outstanding Drama Series, and Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for Moss, both in 2017 – THE HANDMAID’S TALE has been a favourite of fans and critics right from the start. Based on a 1985 novel of the same name by Canadian author Margaret Atwood, it’s set in a dark, dystopian, totalitarian world following a second American Civil War, in which fertile women have been subjected to child-bearing slavery. In Season 4, June (Moss) strikes back against Gilead as a fierce rebel leader, but the risks she takes bring unexpected and dangerous new challenges, and her quest for justice and revenge threatens to consume her. Of course, every great drama is filled with intense personal clashes in addition to the wider issues, and THE HANDMAID’S TALE is no exception. “God … June versus Aunt Lydia,” Moss said with a smile of admiration, referring to the chilling animosity between her own character and the one played so menacingly by Ann Dowd. “I mean, I think one of the things that we deal with this season is power, and what real power means, and who has it. That’s what so much of the book was about, and what so much of our show is about. And power isn’t always what it looks like. Power can be dangerous. It can be something that is destructive. And I think, for both June and Lydia, they are both seeking power, but perhaps in very different ways, and with different objectives.” In some ways THE HANDMAID’S TALE has taken on more layers as the seasons have progressed. There’s always the good-versus-evil element at play, but now it also poses questions about how people deal with their own traumatic pasts. “I think that so much of June’s journey – especially in the back half of the season, which I can’t talk as much about – but it’s about a feeling of rage, and anger,” Moss said. “It’s about the desire (of others) to sweep things under the rug, the desire to say that everything is okay now, the desire to say that it’s all going to be fine, and nothing was ever a problem, and let’s just forget everything that just happened. So much of June’s journey is sort of screaming into the wind, ‘We will not forget!’ ” It’s exactly those types of enduring themes that keep THE HANDMAID’S TALE as fresh and vital today as it ever has been. “I think it’s extremely relevant, but I’ve been living inside of it, and now that we’re answering questions and having to look at it objectively, I’m only now sort of even fully realizing how relevant it is,” Moss said. “It’s interesting, there has never been any design in the writers’ room to (reflect modern times). It’s not one of the LAW & ORDER shows, where you write from the headlines. That’s not what we do. But we follow these characters, and they are very, very human. They are mothers, and they are fathers, and they are friends, and they are brothers, and they are sisters – and they are enemies.” billharristv@gmail.com @billharris_tv