6 Emmy predictions ahead of Thursday’s nominations announcement

The Handmaid’s Tale

Leave it to Elizabeth Moss and Margaret Atwood to take the swirling fog of fear that millions of women have felt in real life in recent months and channeling it into an unsettling TV masterpiece. Hulu’s adaptation of Atwood’s 1985 dystopian novel felt so timely, a handful of confused people online were outraged Hulu would get so political, when, again, this book was written more than two decades ago.

But its terrifying timing aside, the show is an imaginative work of art. It’s breathtaking, as well as chilling. And, as always, Elizabeth Moss really kills it in the lead role of Offred. When producers had attempted to turn Atwood’s disturbing Handmaid’s world into something audiences would watch in years past, it didn’t go so well. According to The Atlantic, the 1990 film version, starring Natasha Richardson, Robert Duvall, and Faye Dunaway is now “almost entirely forgotten.” Hulu’s interpretation, however, which was made with Atwood’s consultation (and even a cameo), arrived at a time when the world was perhaps more ready to take it all in.

Even if we were more ready, Moss’ performance, along with her supporting cast, captured the lurking horror of the book, revealing how the world slipped further toward oppressive theocracy one unsettling detail at a time (don’t get us started on the first “ceremony” scene, it gives us the creeps just thinking about it). Atwood, Moss, and the entire production team involved in bringing this story to riveting life deserve the praise they’ve already received. And hopefully, the Academy will agree, either honoring the cast or the show overall.