Samira Wiley signs on to New Hulu Series

Actress Samira Wiley is perhaps best known to audiences for her portrayal of Poussey Washington in Netflix’s Orange Is the New Black. However, as fans of the series may already know (and here’s a spoiler warning for those that don’t), Poussey was killed in Season 4 of OINTB. Now that Wiley is no longer on the series, she’ll be moving onto a project that will make life in a woman’s prison seem like child’s play by comparison. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Wiley is joining the cast of Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale. The ten-episode series starring Elizabeth Moss (Mad Men) is based on Margaret Atwood’s award-winning 1985 novel. Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale is set for a 2017 release. The Handmaid’s Tale focuses on a near-future dystopia in the Republic of Gilead, a theocratic dictatorship set within the former United States. The society of Gilead is deeply fanatical and the rights of citizens, particularly women, are restricted. Moss will play Offred, a handmaid forced to serve a high-ranking commander in Gilead while searching for the daughter taken from her. Wiley will portray Moira, a handmaid-in-training who was also Offred’s friend in college. Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale series is created, written, and executive produced by Bruce Miller (The 100). Along with Miller, Daniel Wilson, Fran Sears, Warren Littlefield, and Ilene Chaiken (Empire, The L Word) will also serve as executive producers, with Atwood as a consulting producer. Wilson and Atwood previously worked together on a film adaptation of "The Handmaid’s Tale," which was released in 1990 and starred Natasha Richardson, Faye Dunaway, and Robert Duvall.