‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Star Elisabeth Moss Does a 180 With New Apple+ Series

Following her eight-year portrayal of resistance leader June Osborne on Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale, Elisabeth Moss is moving on to a completely different role.

The actress will star in and executive produce Imperfect Women, Apple TV+’s upcoming adaptation of Araminta Hall’s 2020 novel of the same name.

The show, adapted by Annie Weisman with Kerry Washington also attached as executive producer and star, was announced in late March, just weeks before The Handmaid’s Tale wrapped its six-season run. An unconventional psychological thriller examining a crime that shatters the lives of a decades-long friendship of three women, Imperfect Women is described “a mystery complicated by perspective that explores guilt and retribution, love and betrayal, and the compromises we make that alter our lives irrevocably. As the investigation unravels, so does the truth about how even the closest relationships can change over time.”

Hall’s book centers around the murder of Nancy Hennessy, who leaves behind two best friends, an adoring husband and daughter, and a secret lover whose identity she took to the grave. As the investigation into her death flounders and her friends Eleanor and Mary wrestle with their grief, dark details surface that reveal how little they knew their friend, each other, and maybe even themselves.

“From the moment I received Araminta’s novel, I couldn’t put it down. It was such an electrifying read; I fell in love with it immediately,” Moss said when Apple TV+ picked up the show. “I’ve admired Kerry and her work as an actor and producer for many years, and have been looking for something to work with her on and was so thrilled that she responded to the material when we sent it to her and Pilar at Simpson Street. They were the first and only people we thought of. We are so happy that Apple and 20th Television agreed to partner with us on this, as well. It’s all an absolute match made in heaven.”

Hall added, “I couldn’t be happier that my book has found a home at Apple, home of some of my favorite programs. And to be working with Elisabeth and Lindsey is a dream. They have an incredible talent for story telling and immediately understood my book in exactly the way I meant it to be read. And then to have Kerry Washington on board is like a bonus on top of a bonus. My book couldn’t be in better hands.”

Along with Moss and Washington, Imperfect Women also stars Kate Mara, Corey Stoll, Joel Kinnaman, Rome Flynn, Sherri Saum, Ana Ortiz, Wilson Bethel, Keith Carradine, Jackson Kelly, Leslie Odom Jr., and Joel Kinnaman.

The series doesn’t yet have a premiere date, but Moss told TVLine, “it’s going great. It’s pretty early, but it’s a project that’s been near and dear to my heart for five years now.”