The INSIDER Summary:

"The Handmaid's Tale" is a new Hulu series starring Elizabeth Moss.

The show is an adaptation of Margret Atwood's novel of the same name.

Atwood is involved in the show's production and made a cameo appearance in the pilot.

She's the Aunt who hits Offred (Elizabeth Moss) on the side of the head.



Margaret Atwood's 1985 dystopian novel "The Handmaid's Tale" has been adapted by Hulu for a new series. Atwood recently wrote a column for the New York Times, reflecting on what "The Handmaid's Tale" has come to mean in the months since President Donald Trump was elected.

In the column, Atwood explains that she makes a small appearance in the first episode of Hulu's adaptation.

"In this series I have a small cameo," Atwood wrote. "The scene is the one in which the newly conscripted Handmaids are being brainwashed in a sort of Red Guard re-education facility known as the Red Center [...] The Handmaids sit in a circle, with the Taser-equipped Aunts forcing them to join in what is now called (but was not, in 1984) the "slut-shaming" of one of their number, Jeanine, who is being made to recount how she was gang-raped as a teenager."

Atwood plays the role of one of the Aunts, and when Offred hesitates to participate in the slut-shaming, Atwood steps forward and hits the side of her head.

Margaret Atwood stays just out of focus in this scene. Hulu

Offred, played by Elizabeth Moss, flinches in pain and then slowly raises her hand to point at Janine, choosing to participate in the ritual mental abuse rather than become a victim herself.

Here's the moment in GIF form:

In the New York Times article, Atwood said the scene was difficult to film.

"Although it was 'only a television show' and these were actresses who would be giggling at coffee break, and I myself was 'just pretending,' I found this scene horribly upsetting," Atwood said. "It was way too much like way too much history."

Margaret Atwood's novel serves as a warning to not let misogyny and discrimination become normalized. AP

The power system in Atwood's novel relies upon women aiding in the control and abuse of other women — an idea taken from history and modern social behavior, not fantasy.

"Yes, women will gang up on other women," Atwood wrote. "Yes, they will accuse others to keep themselves off the hook: We see that very publicly in the age of social media, which enables group swarmings. Yes, they will gladly take positions of power over other women, even — and, possibly, especially — in systems in which women as a whole have scant power: All power is relative, and in tough times any amount is seen as better than none."

The first three episodes of "The Handmaid's Tale" are now streaming on Hulu, and new episodes will be released weekly on Wednesdays beginning May 3.