“The Handmaid’s Tale” star and executive producer Elisabeth Moss opened up about the opportunity to debut Taylor Swift’s revised version of her song “Look What You Made Me Do,” saying they finally found the “perfect spot” for one of the pop star’s hits.
The song, which was completely re-recorded for Swift’s “Reputation (Taylor’s Version),” kicked off Episode 9, “Execution,” and played over visuals of June Osborne (Moss) leading the Gilead rebellion. During a conversation with Billboard, Moss unpacked the behind-the-scenes story of how the show came to feature the track.
“I’ve been wanting to use a Taylor song for many years on the show and we finally found the perfect spot for a track from her, and I’m so glad we waited because there could not be a more perfect song for a more perfect moment,” Moss said. “Taylor has been such an inspiration to me personally. As a Swiftie myself, and I think I can speak for [co-star] Yvonne [Strahovski] and our entire cast as well, who are all Swifties, it’s such an honor to be able to use her music in the final episodes of our show.”
Moss, who directed Episode 9, said she’d reached out to “Handmaid’s Tale” editor Wendy Hallam Martin, with a request to add one of Swift’s song to the episode.
“I said to my editor, Wendy, ‘I really want to find a place for a Taylor track in the last 2 episodes of the show’ and we wanted to find a music queue for the opening of 9, and all the credit goes to Wendy for picking this track for this moment!” she explained.
Watch the opening scene here:
Hallam Martin said Swift’s brand, message and sound fit perfectly into the “Handmaid’s Tale” world.
“In trying many songs for this specific moment in our series and knowing how much Lizzie wanted a strong female voice and message, Taylor was really the artist that delivered both lyrically and tonally,” Hallam Martin told Billboard. “Our badass main character June in this scene, really was saying ‘look what you made me do’ and the song couldn’t have been more on point. A perfect pairing. When I laid the song up against the scene, it just landed perfectly thematically, rhythmically and magically hit all the edit points which sometimes happens if it’s meant to be. I shared it with Lizzie and we both knew immediately that this was the one!”
“The Handmaid’s Tale” series finale premieres Tuesday, May 27, on Hulu.
