The Handmaid's Tale star Yvonne Strahovski teases there's more 'rock bottom' to come for Serena
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Warning: This article contains spoilers from season 5, episode 7 of The Handmaid's Tale.
Blessed be the fruit: Serena Joy Waterford has finally gotten a taste of her own medicine on this week's episode of The Handmaid's Tale.
After last episode's cliffhanger, which saw June (Elisabeth Moss) and Serena (Yvonne Strahovski) running off together after Serena shot her guardian and threatened June at gunpoint, the two found themselves stuck together in uncharted waters to start episode 7.
Serena goes into full on labor, and instead of leaving her to fend for herself, June begrudgingly stays and helps her through it. This leads to some incredibly fraught, but also beautifully tender, moments between the two women as Serena brings baby Noah into the world with her former handmaid at her side.
It all ends with June convincing her to go to a hospital for the safety of her and her baby, and just when it seems maybe the two women have come to a sort of understanding or semblance of peace between them, it's revealed that Luke (O-T Fagbenle) — without June's knowledge — alerted the authorities about Serena. She's taken into custody, and her son is taken away from her. As the episode ends, Serena is seen screaming in agony as a smug Luke and a shocked June look on. "At last, she knows what it feels like. Justice," Luke tells his wife.
The episode is a rollercoaster of emotions for the characters and the audience alike, and here, EW sat down with Strahovski to unpack it all and tease what to expect for the rest of Serena's season 5 journey.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: To start us off, walk me through what went through your head when you read the script for this episode. What was your gut reaction, and what did you want to accomplish with it?
YVONNE STRAHOVSKI: My jaw was on the floor. I was thinking, "Oh my gosh, of course you've made it so that it's just Serena and June doing this together." Not that I expected that at all, but I just thought, wow, of course, they crafted it to be this way, and it's brilliant. The whole ending had my jaw on the floor, just the way everything sort of pans out. I had so many thoughts and feelings about it. It definitely felt very close to home given that I was very newly postpartum. I had just given birth to my second son in real life. So that was very, very, very fresh for me.
I think one of the most exciting things about the episode was talking to Lizzie about the actual birth. I really wanted it to have a lot of elements that were inspired by my own second birth. My first birth was in the hospital, so I did my second one at home, which sort of felt slightly on the same sort of parallel I guess of doing it in a barn. [Laughs] I mean, not entirely, but it's not a hospital obviously. In any case, there were certain elements I was excited to infuse into the scene, and what was really important for me, was the physicality between June and Serena.
How so?
I really wanted to do that moment where Serena is very physically leaning on June and it's very intimate and have my arms around her. And I just thought that would be so cool to see these two women in that relationship, have that physical relationship, especially after all five seasons, and how we got here today and how complex that would be. And also, what that would spark in an audience that is watching it, too. I'm so curious if people are just gonna be so mad about it because June is helping her. I'm just so curious what their reaction is to this whole episode, because it's so strange and weird and wonderful and complicated and there's anger in these things. There's so many things.
Were you conflicted about what happens to Serena in this episode?
I mean in the moment when I'm playing her, the only thing that I can focus on from Serena's point of view is the emotion of it. Especially the ending realization that she's gonna have her baby be taken away from her. I mean, that's just pure baby mama emotion right there. I don't think there's any other way to play it. That's absolutely devastating. It doesn't matter if you're Serena Joy or June Osborne or whoever else in the show, one of the huge discussion points is that separating a mom from a baby is just so bad. But objectively, it does feel a little bit like she is definitely getting what she deserves. I mean, the show defines it in the dialogue really well. It's really hard to enjoy the moment because at the end of the day, there's an innocent child involved. I think June says, "I'm not doing this for you, Serena, I'm doing this for the baby, because the baby is innocent here and the baby doesn't deserve to be separated from the mother." So compartmentalizing it in that way, I think defines it in a way that's easier to bear, where you want Serena to have a taste of her own medicine as an audience member, but also you don't want an innocent baby suffering in the process. So it's obviously the two complete opposite feelings that can't exist in one, you know? It's so complex.
Do you feel like this experience means that moving forward, June and Serena won't be so at odds with each other? Like maybe some of their animosity has abated?
In terms of their relationship, the ball is in June's court. As we see in episode 7, Serena has nowhere to go, no rights, no one to lean on. It really is sort of up to June as to how much she involves herself in Serena's life. And I think that's really going to be dependent on where the character of June is at in her trauma response/healing journey that this show explores. So, it does feel very sort of Stockholm syndrome in a lot of ways, for her going back to help. But I mean, it's so hard because there's this innocent baby. I think that's what's obviously driving June is, but I mean, that's why it's so complicated because she's been through so much abuse and so much trauma that it's just an impossible situation in so many ways. So much of that is really just dependent on June as to where and what she decides to do with Serena, I guess that's really the cliffhanger for the next episode is, you know, Serena is truly at the mercy of everything and everyone, including June.
Hulu Yvonne Strahovski as Serena Joy Waterford in season 5, episode 7 of 'The Handmaid's Tale'
And what about Serena — do you think she's starting to truly feel sorry for what she's done or have some regrets?
I think she's sorry because she's now been in the situation and because she's starting to get a taste of her own medicine and she's desperate to keep her baby. I'm not sure that she, looking back on her journey, would necessarily change much about the choices that she's made. I think she feels quite justified in most of them, even the terrible ones, the monstrous ones, because I do think that Serena has always seen herself as someone who also has to survive and who made the best out of a terrible situation for herself. And she can't really see outside of her own sort of narcissistic fault, I guess. I think when she's saying "I'm sorry" and "I'm not worthy of saving" — I think it's more self-pity in these heightened stakes. She's in a barn, it's freezing cold and there's nowhere to go. I'm just not sure that if she truly sat and thought about the situation, [that she'd be] truly sorry and remorseful for the other person. I think this is more about her than it is about the other person, sadly. I wish I had better news for everybody, but I don't, that's not my belief. [Laughs]
You mentioned earlier bringing aspects of your own birthing experiences into these scenes, but I'm curious when you knew that you'd have to do this for an entire episode, was it daunting for you? Or were you excited to play that?
I think I was definitely going, "Oh God, I have to shoot this massive, long thing" and I knew it was gonna be days long and I knew it was just going to be exhausting, which it was. I mean, it's very reminiscent of the actual process because it does take forever. I think we were in that barn for three full days shooting and it was very, very, very physical. But at the same time I was also really tickled to have the opportunity I've never had, to have an opportunity on camera to give birth. I've done it twice in my real life, but not on camera. [Laughs] So I was really excited to pull elements from my most recent birth, which I did. I really wanted to pull elements from that and the intimacy of that and how it felt and even the physical intimacy that I had with my husband as well. I wanted to infuse the June and Serena relationship with that element and really try and portray, given the circumstances that Serena is under, try and portray something that felt just more real, more representative of what it would be really like. I mean, obviously, there's a huge heightened element. There's a lot of panic and stress and stuff, which was not part of my personal experience, but obviously for the show makes sense, you're in a barn and it's dangerous. There's all the things. There's panic. It's Serena's first time, June is a threat to her. I mean, there's so many things that would make a woman panic throughout that process. So that's definitely in there, as well as the other elements that I was excited to put in there.
And just from a technical aspect, what was shooting those birthing scenes like with a newborn and all of that?
Gosh, I believe the baby, the twins — because they're always twins because it's very hard to rely on babies in general to perform — I believe they were 16 days old.
Oh, wow.
Maybe a little older. Twin babies are usually not as big, they tend to be a little smaller, which is helpful for television. And then casting has to find moms who are willing to let us borrow their baby and cover them in strawberry jam and cream cheese for the process. [Laughs] And trust us with these precious, precious little babies.
I've always wondered where they find these babies.
The baby is only allowed on set for a set amount of minutes. They're off in their room until we absolutely need the baby. Everything is set up and then we practice with the prosthetic doll first to make sure everything's right as to how we're going to physicalize it. And then at the last minute, the camera is rolling and the baby will come in, we'll position ourselves, and go and just shoot that little thing over and over again until we get it. And then that's it. Baby leaves. It's very sort of protective of the actual baby, as it should be.
What can we expect from Serena in these final episodes of season 5?
I think we're gonna see Serena hit rock bottom. I mean, if she hasn't already, you know. I think there's more rock bottom to come for her in a very big way. Some of my most favorite scenes happen in episode 8. Again, they're complicated, they're complex. I think it's probably the most genuinely remorseful we may see Serena in like two seconds, in the moment, when she says a certain thing to a certain someone. Then, given that she's now in a position that is not privileged or how she's used to being, I don't think she's going to know how to be as savvy in her manipulation as she has been in the past. She's going to flail a little bit in that department, which is exciting to watch and it was exciting for me to perform. And, just with regards to the ending, I think it's very unexpected. I don't think it's at all what anybody is going to expect from the show, so we'll see.
This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
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