Samira Wiley and Sam Jaeger deliver standout performances in the critically acclaimed series, The Handmaid’s Tale. As former Handmaid-turned-activist Moira and the calculating Mark Tuello, their performances are something special, especially as they both find ways to dig deeper into their roles.
In this interview, Wiley and Jaeger talk about their experiences bringing these characters to life. They also shared some insights on their characters, being directed by Elizabeth Moss and how Jaeger’s original guest star role blossomed into a series regular. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. For the full interview, watch the video above or check out our YouTube page.
When you were filming your very first scenes of the show, like way back, could you have imagined where your individual stories eventually ended?
Samira Wiley: Absolutely not. There’s no way I could have done it. I mean, number one, I didn’t even know that this show would go six seasons. It was originally a show that was supposed to be, you know, a book. We acquired the IP and the book was told in season one from beginning to end. That was the story.
So, what has happened, not even in season six, but in season two, three, four, every single season, I have been pleasantly surprised. I wonder even if the writers sometimes know where it’s going after a season is done. But I don’t think so.
I think that there has been a real conversation, a conversation without the words between the actors and the writers of what should happen in this show, them learning the way we speak, our cadences, everything like that. I’ve heard them speak about that. So in a lot of words, that’s a no.
Sam Jaeger: Yeah. I came on as a guest star, so I thought that was it.
And they kept bringing Mark back and maybe saw something between Mark and Serena (Yvonne Strahovski) that made sense. And also I think later, according to Bruce [Miller], he was like, ‘we had a hard time trying to find a way to talk about what was happening in the larger world of Gilead. And we knew that we could have Mark do that for our show, that he would be the one that would say, okay, here are the larger things at work.’
And so that helped them that they could have a human say it as opposed to just cutting to a newsreel or something. He’s very political, which helped tell the story.
But I had no idea what would go where and where it did.
Did you have any inkling on your first guest star appearance that you would be coming back? And then ending up where you are now? That’s got to be great.
Sam Jaeger: Oh, it’s the best. Yeah. It was so great.
And I remember in the second season of doing it, I remember watching, there was a scene with Serena. It was Serena and Fred (Joseph Fiennes) were waiting, it was the episode where we get them behind, and I kind of coerce and trick Fred into coming into neutral territory and we arrest him for crimes against humanity. And shooting those scenes, I was watching a conversation between the director and Yvonne, and it was taking so long. And I was like, ‘What in the hell? It’s taking so long.’ So I pulled up and I listened to the conversation. It was a drone shot.
And I go, “Hey, is there anything that we’re talking about right now that is going to matter from like 200 feet up?” I wasn’t trying to be rude about it, but they were like, “Well, actually we’re trying to discuss whether I’d be outside of the car instead of inside the car. And that was the moment I realized, “Oh, there isn’t intention here. There’s a reason behind every choice that they make.”
And from that moment on, I thought, “Oh, that’s why this show has a tempo on set.” It’s because we want to try and tell the story in the best way possible with the most nuance and specificity.
Being directed by Elizabeth Moss. Can you tell when your director is an actor?
Samira Wiley: Yeah, definitely. There are a lot of directors that I’ve worked with who have a background in performance first. But Lizzie, there’s another thing with her. It’s the way she is so fully consumed, the way she’s sort of inside The Handmaid’s Tale as an executive producer, as a star of the show.
And also, as the actor who plays my character’s best friend there’s a collaborative spirit there that is not always welcomed by others. I think even with other directors, there’s an understanding that she respects you as an artist and wants to invite your opinion when it comes to whatever scene we’re filming.
Like, the genuineness of the way she speaks to us, the care and the level of respect is something that I believe really gets a different kind of performance out of the actors. There’s a level of trust, I guess.
Sam Jaeger: I mean, the best way to clarify it is like as great as Lizzie is as an actress, she is equally that great as a director and possibly more so. I mean, she is so dynamic. Man, how is it possible that this one human can be this good at these two separate things?
