【Dear Utol (2025): Chick! Episode 47】

"Weirdly,Dear Utol (2025): Chick! Episode 47 in my career, if you’re a man, you stand out because most of the people around me have been women in charge," Samira Wiley tells Mashable.

Wiley is best known as fan-favorite Poussey on Orange is the New Black. But, beginning this week, she will have a prominent role in the dystopian The Handmaid's Tale, a series made primarily by bringing to life a universe created by Margaret Atwood that feels strikingly prescient in today's political climates. All but one of the episodes of the series were directed by women.

We caught up with her at a screening of the show at The Wing, a women's club and co-working space, to discuss the show, the weight of adapting Atwood's text, and getting married to an OITNBwriter.

SEE ALSO: 'The Handmaid’s Tale' is a huge moment for Hulu that will hit you hard

She's relieved she didn't read Handmaid's Talebefore she was cast in the show so she could bring a fresh perspective to Moira without the pressure of doing justice to to a character she grew up with.

"I did have people tell me if I messed it up, they’re gonna kill me," she says. "I’m happy that I didn’t feel like I was gonna kill myself."

Atwood has been actively involved with the series as a producer (she even has a memorable cameo in the pilot slapping Elisabeth Moss across the face) and has adopted the habit of commenting on the cast's Instagrams.

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"I think I like, posted a picture of like, cause I recently got married and I posted a picture of me and my wife kissing and she, out of all people, was just like, tongue! The tongue emoji in quotes. It was the best," she laughs. "I showed it to someone and she was like, ‘Does she know what that means?’ And was like, ‘I think so.’"

Yvonne Strahovski, Samira Wiley and Women's March National Co-Chair Tamika Mallory Credit: robin marchant/Getty Images for Hulu

Another, more PG Instagram comment about her marriage to Orange is the new Blackwriter Lauren Morelli caught her eye recently. A fan noticed them walking down the street holding hands and commented to let them know how much the brief moment meant to them.

"I think that in this world, I think LGTBQ visibility is of the utmost importance and somehow something as un-radical as walking down the street holding hands can become a radical statement," says Wiley. "And I am blessed to be able to be one of the people that can represent that."

In the new series, Moira's backstory as a queer woman forced into sexual slavery gets fleshed out more than in the source material. In flashbacks, you see her as a college student drinking beer and kissing a girl she fully intends to learn the name of eventually before the world devolves into gritty, dystopian chaos.

During the panel, she and co-star Yvonne Strahovski noted what a bummer it is to see women both in the show and real life pitted against each other. But it's a good reminder to, as a popular Women's March sign demanded, "Make Margaret Atwood fiction again."

The Handmaid's Talepremieres on Hulu April 26.

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