The executive producer of the “The Handmaid’s Tale” and an actress who portrays one of the main characters said they believe America is on the path of realizing the dystopian future depicted in the show.
“We’re a heck of a lot closer than we were in season one, which is terrible,” Ann Dowd, one of the show’s main characters, said Sunday in an interview with CNN. “It was scary in season one, and it got more and more serious as we were shooting the pilot that, ‘this is happening.'”
The first season of the show, which airs on Hulu, was filmed during the 2016 election campaign between President Trump and Hillary Clinton. Warren Littlefield, an executive producer, said things felt like they were changing as show was being created amid the publicity surrounding the “alt-right” and Brexit movements.
“And now, a few years later, we’re feeling it is arrived,” Littlefield said.
Dowd and Littlefield both referenced recent state laws restricting abortion as troubling developments.
When I saw what was going on in Georgia, I thought, ‘This can’t be real,'” Dowd said. “It stunned me.”
“I would not go near there,” Littlefield added.
Last month, Georgia passed a ban on abortions performed after the heartbeat of the child is detected.
“The Handmaid’s Tale” is based on a 1985 novel by Margaret Atwood. The novel tells the story of the future of America where the government is overthrown and replaced by a totalitarian state.
