Alias Grace Reexamines History Told From a "Privileged Perspective"

In the same year that Hulu broke the mold with The Handmaid's Tale, Netflix is taking a crack at another Margaret Atwood novel -- Alias Grace.

The book and series tells the story of Grace Marks, a servant woman in Upper Canada in the 1840s who was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted or murdering her employer Thomas Kinnear and his housekeeper Nancy Montgomery. Marks' conviction was eventually overturned 30 years later, though a shadow of doubt about her involvement in the murders followed her for the rest of her days.

Sarah Gordon plays the titular Grace in the Netflix series and was excited to tell this story of a woman in a lower class during a time period where the lower class and women weren't well represented at all.

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"I think sometimes history is told from a privileged perspective," Gordon told TV Guide while promoting the series. "Part of the reason that film and television is so great is that we're given this opportunity to look back from a different perspective. In so doing, we get a better understanding of the experiences of the people whose voices were squashed at that time."

Gordon's co-star Anna Paquin, who plays the murdered housekeeper in the series, weighed in that Grace's story in particular is so interesting because of what had to transpire for her to be heard.

"People of lower socio-economic status often don't have a platform from which to speak and it's sort of ironic that Grace Marks had to kill somebody -- maybe kill someone, maybe she didn't -- was convicted of killing someone in order to have a voice," Paquin explained.

Alias Grace premieres on Netflix on Friday, Nov. 3.