The Canadian writer's 1985 novel – once adapted by Volker Schlöndorff in 1990 – is set in a fictional state called Gilead, where religious nutcases have turned women into chattel to be controlled and exploited by the state. With birth rates plunging and women effectively sex slaves, Moss’s ‘handmaid’, Offred, is co-opted into the efforts to repopulate the planet.
Imagine the warped totalitarian state of Children Of Men with religious zealots in control. Wiley will play Moira, a college buddy of Offred’s and now her fellow handmaid-in-training. Max Minghella and Ann Dowd (The Leftovers) are also appearing.
Bruce Miller is the show’s creator, working on a ten-episode run for MGM TV in the autumn. It’ll shoot in Toronto, with Reed Morano (Meadowland) directing the first three episodes, and is set to premiere next year.