‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Casts Amanda Brugel; Jemar Michael Joins ‘Dear White People’

Amanda Brugel (Room) has booked a recurring role opposite Elisabeth Moss, Joseph Fiennes and Yvonne Strahovski in Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale, the upcoming straight-to-series drama based on Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel. The series from MGM Television tells the story of life in the dystopia of Gilead, a totalitarian society in what was formerly part of the United States. Facing environmental disasters and a plunging birthrate, Gilead is ruled by a twisted fundamentalism that treats women as property of the state. As one of the few remaining fertile women, Offred (Moss) is a Handmaid in the Commander’s household, one of the caste of women forced into sexual servitude as a last desperate attempt to repopulate a devastated world. Brugel will play Rita, the Waterfords’ (Fiennes and Strahovski) housekeeper. Brugel will next be seen in Eyewitness on USA Network. She appeared in Oscar-nominated Room and recurred on Orphan Black. She’s repped by Authentic Talent & Literary Management and Parent Management.

Jemar Michael (Dear White People movie) is set for a recurring role in Dear White People, Netflix’s upcoming comedy series based on Justin Simien’s acclaimed film. Set among a diverse group of students of color as they navigate a predominantly white Ivy League college where racial tensions are often swept under the rug, the series, produced by Lionsgate, is a send up of “post-racial” America that also weaves a universal story about forging one’s own unique path. Michael will play Al, an exuberant, ethnically ambiguous student leader of the Black American Forum (Black AF) — a more radical rival to Winchester’s Black Student Union. Michael, repped by Authentic Talent & Literary Management, first appeared in a small role in the 2014 film Dear White People. This will be his television debut.