Joseph Fiennes: There’s ‘much more resistance’ in Handmaid’s Tale series three

Joseph Fiennes has said the third series of The Handmaid’s Tale will feature “much more resistance” as the rebellion against Gilead continues.

The 48-year-old actor plays Commander Fred Waterford opposite Elisabeth Moss in the dystopian drama.

Fiennes said upcoming episodes would constitute a “great season” for Moss’s Offred character, whose campaign against the totalitarian state enters full flight.

He said: “I’m very excited. It’s a great season and it’s great for Offred – there’s much more resistance.”

The Handmaid’s Tale is a story about life in the dictatorship of Gilead, where women are treated as property of the state.

Moss plays Offred, a woman forced into sexual slavery to help repopulate their community, while Joseph’s character ruled the house where Offred was a handmaid.

The second series saw Offred escape and join the resistance.

Fiennes also spoke of his excitement at having the part of Waterford developed by the show’s writers.

He added: “There’s a great arc for the commander because in season one, rather like the book, it’s very thinly drawn.

“This is a great piece of feminist literature and it’s a woman’s story – it’s the handmaid’s tale – and so the antagonists like Fred quite rightly are not the focus.

“But what’s nice in season three for me is that this antagonist, Fred, gets a little bit of an arc.

“He has much more of a story through the series, rather than just being the face or the representative of a horrific patriarchal regime.”