The Handmaid’s Tale almost didn’t star Elisabeth Moss as its heroine.

During an appearance on The Jennifer Hudson Show on May 20, the actress, 42, said she initially passed on playing June Osborne — a role that has earned her two Emmys since 2017 — in the hit Hulu series.

“I’m so glad I [took it], obviously,” Moss said. “Thank God that worked out the right way.”

Moss said she was offered the show “less than a year” after finishing her eight-year run on the series Mad Men, so she was hesitant to sign on for another “five or six” year commitment.

“I wasn’t quite sure if I was ready to make that commitment again, so I actually passed the first time they offered it to me,” she said. “I know, it seems insane now. I’m so glad I’ve corrected that. Then they came back, and they very nicely offered it again, blah, blah, blah. Then the thing that clinched it was … they leaked it to me who they were going to offer it to if I didn’t take it, and I was like, ‘Over my dead body.'”

While Moss didn’t reveal who the other candidate for the role was, she said, “It was the thing that made realize that I needed to do it.”

“I couldn’t stand the idea of anyone else playing that role, you know what I mean?” she said. “That was the thing that made me realize how badly I wanted to do it.”

After eight years and six seasons, The Handmaid’s Tale will conclude with a series finale airing on Tuesday, May 27. In April, Moss told reporters that the she was “so proud” of how the series — which is based on Margaret Atwood’s bestselling book — concludes.

“Everybody really, honestly, everybody left everything on the dance floor,” she said. “You just felt like everybody was bringing everything they had, their A-game.”

Moss said that with the two final episodes in particular, “it was so important” to the cast to make them “the best they could possibly be.”

“You can feel it,” she said. “I think you can see it on the screen.”

Moss — who became a mom in 2024 — said she hopes the dystopian show ultimately “offers some hope.”

“I think June is a very inspiring character,” she said. “She’s so brave. She inspires me. So, I just hope that someone somewhere takes that home with them, and it helps them in any way.”