Handmaid's Tale actor Elisabeth Moss: 'There are some countries that are Gilead'

The actor said the United States hopefully as 'a long walk' to becoming like the fictional dystopia

Elisabeth Moss has compared the current state of the United States to the fiction dystopian republic of Gilead from The Handmaid’s Tale.

The actor, who plays Offred in the Hulu series based on Margaret Atwood’s iconic book, was talking at South by Southwest festival when she made the comments.

“I hope it’s a long walk,” Moss said of the US becoming Gilead, according to Deadline.

“There are other countries that that are a lot closer. There are some countries that are Gilead… we are farther.”

Moss revealed that she had spoken to Atwood about the subject, with the author also believing the US has some way to go before becoming Gilead, where totalitarian government rules and women are subjugated by the law.

However, Atwood did apparently say we cannot close our eyes to what’s happening in the world, pointing out that The Handmaid’s Tale is “based on what has happened before”.

While the first season of the Emmy-winning drama was based on the events of Atwood’s novel, the second season took viewers past the first book. The Handmaid's Tale returns 5 June.