Elisabeth Moss to star in Hulu series The Handmaid's Tale

Having braved the old boys’ club of 1960s Madison Avenue, Elisabeth Moss is headed to the dystopia of Gilead.

Hulu announced Friday that the Mad Men actress will star in The Handmaid’s Tale, a drama ordered straight to series and based on the Margaret Atwood novel.

Moss will play Offred, one of the few remaining fertile women in a totalitarian society in the former United States that has been plagued by environmental disasters and a plummeting birth rate. Serving in the Commander’s household as a handmaid — one of the caste of women forced into sexual servitude in a last-ditch attempt to repopulate the world — she navigates a repressive regime while searching for the daughter taken from her.

Bruce Miller (The 100) will act as creator, writer, and executive producer on the series, which is scheduled to debut in 2017. Daniel Wilson, Fran Sears, and Warren Littlefield will also executive produce, and Atwood will serve as consulting producer.

Atwood’s book, first published in 1985, was previously adapted as a 1990 film starring Natasha Richardson and Robert Duvall.

Moss will also be seen on the small screen next year in the second season of the BBC Two and SundanceTV series Top of the Lake.