Gilead has gotten itself a Gilmore girl. Alexis Bledel—otherwise known as Rory Gilmore—is part of the cast of the adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel The Handmaid’s Tale, Hulu announced today. Bledel is the handmaid Ofglen, one of the women forcefully impregnated by the society’s upper class. Hulu describes the character as someone who initially appears to be “ a pious rule-follower,” but is actually “daring and subversive.”
As The Hollywood Reporter points out, there’s a neat Mad Men connection afoot, given that The Handmaid’s Tale stars Elisabeth Moss. Bledel popped up in the fifth season of that show and is now married to Moss’ fellow SCDP alum Vincent Kartheiser. “When Alexis’ name came through, it was perfect. She has this incredible fragility and vulnerability to her, but there is another side — a strength and a toughness to her, that some people maybe haven’t see,” Moss said in an interview with THR. “Obviously it doesn’t hurt that she’s a friend of mine.”
According to THR, Bledel’s significant role was kept a secret due her obligations to Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life. Fingers crossed viewers won’t be so thoroughly annoyed at her character here as they were in that series.