Hulu To Adapt THE HANDMAID’S TALE Starring Elisabeth Moss

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Hulu just ordered a ten-episode adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s classic novel The Handmaid’s Tale. Elisabeth Moss will star.

The adaptation will be written by The 100’s Bruce Miller, who will executive produce alongside Warren Littlefield, Fran Sears, and Daniel Wilson, who helped with the 1990 film adaptation of the book starting Faye Dunaway and Robert Duvall. Margaret Atwood will serve as a consulting producer, which I think means they call her every once in a while so she can say “no, that sounds stupid.”

This ten-episode series sounds like a much better approach to the material than trying to shove it all into one feature film. The order is straight-to-series, so this is definitely happening.

If you’ve never read The Handmaid’s Tale, here’s the synopsis they have at THR:

The drama tells the story of life in the dystopia of Gilead, a totalitarian society in what was formerly part of the U.S. Facing environmental disasters and a plunging birthrate, Gilead is ruled by a twisted religious fundamentalism that treats women as property of the state. As one of the few remaining fertile women, Offred (Moss) is a handmaid in the commander's household, one of the caste of women forced into sexual servitude as a last desperate attempt to repopulate a devastated world. She is forced to navigate between commanders, their cruel wives, domestic marthas and her fellow handmaids — where anyone could be a spy for Gilead — all with one goal: to survive and find the daughter that was taken from her. 

As with all series we’re hearing about for the first time, it’ll probably be a while before this comes to fruition. But for fans of the book, and I’ve known quite a few, this is probably very exciting news to end your week on. Me, I’m still waiting for an Oryx and Crake movie.