Elisabeth Moss returns to TV in Hulu's dystopian 'Handmaid's Tale'

“The timing has been uncanny,” says Margaret Atwood, marveling at how her 1985 novel, “The Handmaid's Tale,” has not only been given renewed life as a TV series but has also gained disturbing urgency.

“Last November 7, they thought they were making a fantasy-fiction series,” Atwood says. “On Nov. 9, they thought maybe they were making a documentary.”

However you take it, “The Handmaid's Tale” premieres Wednesday, April 26, on Hulu with three gripping episodes. The remaining seven will be released each Wednesday thereafter.

The cast includes Joseph Fiennes, Alexis Bledel and Samira Wiley, and stars Elisabeth Moss as Offred, who, as one of the few remaining fertile women in the cruel dystopia of Gilead, is among the caste of women forced into sexual servitude in a desperate attempt to repopulate a ravaged world.

Such is life in this totalitarian society, where human rights are trampled and women in particular are treated as property of the state.

Offred is a career stretch for Moss, who remains best known as proto-feminist copywriter Peggy Olson on “Mad Men.” Now 34, Moss further expanded her horizons during the “Handmaid's Tale” shoot in Toronto: She took on the additional role of producer.

“I had no interest in it just being a title card,” she says, “and I was extremely lucky. They listened to me and asked my advice on things in a way that I didn't expect. It's been an amazing opportunity for me to learn. And now I'm totally obsessed with it! I've got two different projects that I'm considering buying.”

The tone of “The Handmaid's Tale” is subdued, reflecting the oppressive conditions the women live under. And it posed an acting challenge for Moss, one that Atwood, 77, as the novelist who created her character, calls “pretty difficult.”

Moss' problem, says Atwood, “is to show someone who is unable to speak out, because it's too dangerous, but who has to convey to the audience those emotions she is suppressing.”

“I want Offred to be the wife, mother or friend that you can see yourself in,” Moss says. “I want you to think, ‘That's how I would react. That's how I would feel.'”

Now, along with several other projects in the works, Moss looks forward to a hoped-for second season of “The Handmaid's Tale” as unfolding real life seems to reinforce its power as a cautionary tale.

“Women who had taken for granted their rights as women are now really quite worried,” says Atwood, noting the women's marches and other protests since Donald Trump became president. “I would say they're right to be concerned.”