Gilead has no shortage of terrifying places, but no one expected this place to come.
One of the reasons The Handmaid’s Tale resonates so strongly with its audience and causes so much existential dread is that the world is so dystopian, yet so realistic, that viewers begin to believe it could one day become real.
With all the abuses women face today, the prospect of being trapped in a cycle of reproductive servitude forever doesn’t seem as far-fetched as something that could actually happen.
This apocalyptic idea haunts not only the viewers, but also the show’s cast and crew, who must truly immerse themselves in the universe to translate it to the screen.
Not surprisingly, everyone left the set of The Handmaid’s Tale with more trepidation than ever before. Samira Wiley, who plays Moira on the show, shared a specific location that gave her more fear than she thinks:
“When they go shopping, it’s not in an old-looking place. It’s in a shopping center that looks now. And I think that detail makes it a little scarier; it’s really in the world we live in right now,” the actress shared with Architectural Digest while discussing the effort. that have gone into creating Gilead.
As stated by production designer Julie Berghoff, this set was also the most difficult to create. Because Gilead prohibits any form of reading, this mall cannot have written labels. Instead, the team had to fill huge shelves of cans, crates and packages with recreated stickers containing avatars.
Production of this scale requires hundreds and hundreds of labels to be designed, printed and applied to food by hand. One can only imagine the amount of time that was spent creating an eerie scene for the maids as they went shopping.
This collection must have been a real nightmare, not only for the actress but for all the decorators as well.
If you want to immerse yourself in all the beauty and terror of Gilead, you can stream all five seasons of The Handmaid’s Tale on Hulu. The show has also been officially renewed for a sixth season, but there’s no official release date yet, so stay tuned for any news or updates.
source: architectural digest
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