Collider: This material is not light fare.
ELISABETH MOSS: Both.
I thought about it a lot.
I took over a month, I think, to decide.
I was hesitant for a few reasons.
Doing another TV show is, obviously, a commitment.
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The other thing for me was, what would the quality of the show be like?
What kind of show would we be making?
Would we be watering anything down or taking anything back?
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Were we going to be able to do justice to the book?
How were we going to adapt the book?
There were a million questions, and I just wanted it to be what it should be.
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We were just like girlfriends.
Everything was like, Yeah, thats exactly what I want to do!
Eventually what it came down to was incredibly selfish.
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I could not stand the idea of anyone else doing it.
I cant say no!
MOSS: Im not a method actor, at all.
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Also, I love doing dark shit and I love doing dramatic shit.
Anything else is kind of boring.
Thats what I look for and thats what I want.
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I dont take it personally.
I dont take it home.
I dont even take it off of set.
I dont even take it in between takes.
Im not that person.
Its just better for me to work a different way, so that wasnt a problem.
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For me, it was like, are we going to make it dark enough.
I wanted to double-check it was truthful.
Did you want to also be a producer on this because you spent so much time thinking about it?
I play the lead character.
I think even then, maybe they didnt think I was going to be doing that.
Now, they know.
Its been so challenging.
Its been a lot more work than I thought it was gonna be.
Basically, when youre a producer and an actress, the work never stops.
Im involved in everything, from the casting to the crew hiring.
The only thing Im not involved in is the budget and the money.
When do you feel like you really found your voice, in this business?
MOSS: Thats a good question.
Im 34, and I think it happened at some point in the last five years.
It wasnt like I woke up one day and was like, I want to be a producer.
I dont feel like I know exactly what Im doing yet, but I feel like Im learning.
Being a producer on something, youre just far more invested in it.
You care so much more because youre more involved in everything that it took to make it.
When you take on a new challenge, its also really scary, too.
Its scary, but I wouldnt have it any other way.
Are you more interested in the reactions from viewers than you normally would be?
MOSS: Yes, 1,000%.
Im far more invested and nervous.
But I really care about this show and believe in it, and I think its really good.
Im proud of it, so I care more.
What can you say about Offreds journey this season?
She has to become a part of the world, to make it get out of it.
She has to join her enemy, to get to escape.
Shes a real person.
Shes you and shes me.
Shes what we would be like, in that situation.
That was really important to me when I was trying to figure out how to play her.
I wanted her to be who I would be, in that situation.
Thats been really important to us to show.
Shes not going to grab a gun or a sword and fight her way out.
She will find her way out, in a way that is very truthful.
MOSS: Its so interesting that you ask that because thats what Episodes 8 and 9 are about.
In the end, she has to be able to turn to herself because she doesnt have anyone.
One person can be very powerful.
She doesnt have anybody.
Everyone is taken aware from her.
Theyre taken away from her before she got to Gilead and while shes in Gilead.
At the time this book came out, the real-life possibility of a world like this seemed so distant.
But now, it seems like its not that far off from becoming a possibility.
MOSS: It does feel so much more real.
This totalitarian fundamentalist regime that exists as Gilead has an even greater relevance now, in our country.
Its not so crazy, the things that are happening in the book.
At the same time, we dont want to take ourselves too seriously.
We dont work for non-profit organizations.
Were a television show.
It has to be entertaining.
Yeah, thats awesome!
We talk very specifically about America in the show, and the book did, as well.
It just wasnt in America.
Its important to remember that.
Were not just telling an American story.
Were telling a global story.
Your work inTop of the Lakewas so great!
MOSS: Thank you!
What was it like to return to that character, after such a long break?
MOSS: It was cool!
Its really rare you get to do that, four years later.
At the same time, I really wanted it to be different.
I wanted it to be more challenging and darker.
That was my only caveat for doing a second season.
It had to be darker and more complicated, and I had to be challenged.
I regretted those words because it was insane, the amount of challenge.
The first season is like an episode ofModern Familycompared to the second season.
Its so much darker.
