‘The Handmaid’s Tale’: Samira Wiley Was Worried About Typecasting When Offered the Part of Moira

It’s hard to imagine The Handmaid’s Tale without Samira Wiley as Moira, June’s best friend. Fans have watched Moira’s struggles throughout the series as she escapes from Gilead and makes a new life for herself in Canada. Both Wiley and her character Moira are gay, which led to some concern on Wiley’s part that she would be typecast in the future. Luckily, she took the role.

Samira Wiley portrayed Poussey on ‘Orange is the New Black’

Wiley is well known for many acting roles, including her long-running stint on the Netflix series Orange is the New Black. Wiley’s character Poussey Washington quickly became a fan favorite and fans were devastated when she was killed off in season 4.

Wiley worked alongside her wife Lauren Morelli, who worked as a writer on OITNB. In fact, Morelli wrote Poussey’s death scene. “I remember her calling me because I knew that she was writing it,” Wiley said while speaking with The Guardian.

“She was just bawling, crying, and she couldn’t talk. I had no idea what was happening. I’m like, what’s going on? And she goes, I killed her, I just killed her. And I’m like, you killed who? Of course, she meant she had finished the script.”

Samira Wiley worried about typecasting when she was offered a role in ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’

Six months after Samira Wiley’s departure from OITNB, she was offered the role of Moira in The Handmaid’s Tale. Moira is June’s best friend who manages to escape Gilead in season 1. After she reaches freedom in Canada, Moira works to help incoming refugees.

Moira is gay, as is Wiley and her OMITB character Poussey, and this caused some concern for Wiley. She worried that accepting the part in The Handmaid’s Tale would cause her to be typecast in the future.

“So much concern on my part,” Wiley told The Guardian. “I was like, we’ve seen me do this, I know I can do this, I want to do something else.” However, it was Wiley’s wife, Morelli, a big fan of the book, who convinced her to take the part.

“My wife was like, if you do gay for anything, you do gay for this. When I think about it now, it’s a little naive to say I don’t want to play gay because that’s the heteronormative idea that we’re all the same,” Wiley continued. “Moira is a completely different, fully realized person to Poussey. For me, how powerful is it to have a Black gay woman portray an actual Black gay woman on TV? I wouldn’t have been able to see that ever when I was a kid.”

Wiley wants Moira to find love before the series ends

As of The Handmaid’s Tale Season 5, Samira Wiley’s character Moira is still alive and well. She has been living with June’s husband, Luke, helping him to take care of June’s daughter Nichole. In season 4, Moira had a love interest that unfortunately didn’t work out.

However, Wiley still hopes Moira will find love. “She’s been through so much, especially with all the PTSD and everything,” the actor told Hollywood Life. “I think it will be really lovely for her to just find some easy, nice love in her life and something that’s not complicated.”

Don’t miss new episodes of The Handmaid’s Tale Season 5 Wednesdays on Hulu.