It's hard to believe it, but we're almost done with The Handmaid's Tale's tenure on the air. The book to screen adaptation (which is streaming with a Hulu subscription) is currently in the midst of its sixth and final season, and all eyes on how June's story will end. On top of starring as the titular character, actress Elisabeth Moss is also a producer and director on the Emmy-winning series. And her co-stars spoke to CinemaBlend about what it's like working with her as she wears those multiple hats.
While some viewers figure out how to watch The Handmaid's Tale Season 6, I've been a hardcore fan since day one. I had the privilege of speaking with the cast ahead of the new season's premiere, where I asked about collaborating with Moss as she does multiple jobs at once. Luke actor O-T Fagbenle offered a sports analogy, saying:
You feel like you’re on the team with Michael Jordan. You’re aware that you’re working with a savant that can do all the things. So extraordinary. And she’s just in flow. It’s really something to behold. I really have never been on a set and seen someone who was such capacity and is so deft at so many things. It’s inspiring and there is a real team effort feeling around the cast of Handmaid’s.
Honestly, how can you not be inspired? As a mere fan its dizzying to think about what Moss is able to accomplish, especially given the emotionally grueling nature of portraying protagonist June Osborne. But actually seeing it up close while also acting opposite her must be something else.
Fans are wildly emotional about The Handmaid's Tale, and it seems like those feelings also extend to the cast and crew. Another actor who praised Moss' work on the long-running series is Orange is the New Black alum Samira Wiley, who portrays Moira. She spoke about her collaboration with Elisabeth Moss over the years, offering:
Having this relationship over the last eight, nine years there’s a level of trust there that I have never had, I don’t think, with any director. The collaborative nature, wanting to have my opinion, respecting me as an artist. Understanding that she’s telling me that it’s only going to make it better, these conversations. That I’ve been playing Moira so I’m the expert on Moira. ‘I’m apart of this in this kind of way?’ She gets the best performances out of me.
Considering her strong work on the screen and stage, this is more high praise. Wiley has proven herself as a strong performer, but it sounds like Moss was able to get even more out of her as Moira in The Handmaid's Tale.
In our conversation, Wiley made it clear that she wasn't the only actor who feels this way about what Moss brings as both a scene partner and director. As she told me:
And I’ve heard the same from my fellow actors. Seeing her evolution as an artist over the last 8, 9 years has been a real inspiration to me as a woman to witness... seeing Elizabeth gives me so much inspiration for what I may do next.
One Handmaid's Tale star who had a previous relationship with Moss ahead of the Hulu series is Bradley Whitford. The two worked together on The West Wing when she was young, and he spoke to me about what it's been like seeing her take the reins on Handmaid's Tale. As he put it:
It feels the way I feel about my grown kids. There’s like a paternal pride. And then you knew you were gonna love them but you didn’t realize they were gonna inspire you and you’d admire them. That’s been a real, incredible, singular joy
How sweet is that? Despite all the misery that happens in Gilead, there does seem to be a ton of love on the set of The Handmaid's Tale. One can only imagine what it was like saying goodbye after the show wrapped.
New episodes of The Handmaid's Tale air Tuesdays on Hulu as part of the 2025 TV premiere list. While fans will miss the show, at least a spinoff The Testaments is in development.
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