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.”