Elisabeth Moss Says Playing Chameleon-Like Spy In The Veil Was 'Much More Challenging' Than Handmaid's Tale

Elisabeth Moss discussed the challenges of her role in Hulu's latest spy thriller series, The Veil, during a Television Critics Association panel, stating that it has become her most difficult to date.

Published on Feb 13, 2024  |  08:07 PM IST |  120.9K
IMDb
Elisabeth Moss (IMDb)

Elisabeth Moss has her own definition of what she considers fun when it comes to her craft. During Friday's Television Critics Association panel for The Veil, the actress got candid about the more challenging aspects of her role in Hulu's latest spy thriller series and why it's quickly become her most difficult to date.

Elisabeth Moss gets candid on the challenges she faced while filming The Veil

A fan inquired about Elisabeth Moss' potential interest in light-hearted projects like a romantic comedy, despite her history of complex and heavy roles in The Handmaid's Tale. "This is fun to me. I felt like I had a lot of romance and a lot of comedy in this," Moss said of the upcoming Hulu series, The Veil.

ALSO READ: Who Has Elisabeth Moss Dated In The Past? Exploring Her Relationship History As Actress Announces Pregnancy

Elisabeth Moss (IMDb)

Moss, despite enjoying her time on set, admitted that her role as an MI-6 agent may have been one of the most challenging tasks due to the extensive preparation and skills required for the role. She explained, "It was much more challenging, given just the amount of skills and different things I had to do with the dialect and the stunts, the fight training, speaking a couple of different languages here and there, and the traveling all around the world."

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"It definitely felt like it was, if possible, I had found something even more challenging than Handmaid's — which is impossible to say," she said of the dystopian drama. "But yeah, to me —to me, this was a great time."

In addition to starring in Hulu's The Veil, Moss is gearing up for the sixth and final season of The Handmaid's Tale. The hit drama, based on the novel by Margaret Atwood, was renewed for its last installment ahead of its season 5 premiere in September 2022.

The Handmaid's Tale's first season won eight Primetime Emmy Awards from 13 nominations, including Outstanding Drama Series. It is the first show produced by Hulu to win a major award and the first series on a streaming service to win an Emmy for Outstanding Series. It also won the Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series – Drama. Elisabeth Moss was also awarded the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series and the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Television Drama Series.

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Elisabeth Moss (IMDb)

What is The Handmaid's Tale about?

The Handmaid's Tale is an American dystopian television series created by Bruce Miller, based on the 1985 novel of the same name by Canadian author Margaret Atwood. The series was ordered by the streaming service Hulu as a straight-to-series order of 10 episodes, for which production began in late 2016. the series follows the story of fertile women, known as "Handmaids," who are subjected to child-bearing slavery in a totalitarian society.

The series, which premiered on April 26, 2017, aired seven episodes every Wednesday. It was renewed for a fourth season in July 2019, which premiered on April 27, 2021. In September 2019, Hulu and MGM announced a sequel series based on Atwood's 2019 novel, The Testaments. The series was renewed for a fifth season in December 2020, and a sixth and final season in September 2022.

In a world plagued by sexually transmitted diseases and environmental pollution, the totalitarian Gilead government established rule in the former United States after a civil war. The society is organized by power-hungry leaders, with a militarized, hierarchical regime of religious fanaticism and new social classes. Women are brutally subjugated, forced to work in limited roles, own property, have careers, handle money, or read.

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Elisabeth Moss (IMDb)

In Gilead, a region known for its infertility, the new regime has enslaved fertile women, often deemed fallen by the new regime, who are deemed "adulteresses" due to their lack of recognition under Gileadian law. These women include divorced individuals, single or unmarried mothers, lesbians, non-Christians, adherents of other Christian denominations, political dissidents, and academics.

Handmaids, women assigned to the ruling elite's homes, undergo ritualized rape by their male masters in the presence of their wives. The purpose is to be impregnated and bear children for them. Handmaids are given names by adding the prefix "Of-" to their first name, and their names change when transferred.

June Osborne, renamed Offred, is the Handmaid assigned to the home of the Gileadan Commander Fred Waterford and his wife Serena Joy. The Waterfords, key players in the formation and rise of Gilead, struggle with the realities of the society they helped create.

At the beginning of the story, while attempting to flee Gilead with her husband and daughter, June is captured and forced to become a Handmaid because of the adultery she and her husband committed. June's daughter was taken and given to an upper-class family to raise, and her husband escaped to Canada. Much of the plot revolves around June's desire to be reunited with her husband and daughter and the internal evolution of her strength to its somewhat darker version.

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ALSO READ: Handmaid's Tail Star Elizabeth Moss Announces First Child; Says She's Been Really Lucky

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