'The Handmaid's Tale': Yvonne Strahovski on Serena's Intense Birth Scene and Life as a Handmaid (Exclusive)
etonline.comhas seen a lot changes for Yvonne Strahovski’s character, Serena Joy, who started the season as the figurehead of Gilead following the assassination of her husband, Commander Fred Waterford (Joseph Fiennes), who was mourned with an elaborate televised funeral.
Since then, her plans to open a Gilead cultural center in Canada were met with extreme pushback before she eventually took up residence with Sons of Jacobs supporters, The Wheelers, where she was forced to live life as a handmaid.
Now, in episode 7, «No Man’s Land,» Serena finds herself turning to June (Elisabeth Moss) for help as she gives birth to her son, Noah, as the series flashes back to their early days in Gilead, when June was still a handmaiden named Offred and the two were learning the Republic’s bizarre birthing ritual. «Serena doesn’t seem like she is redeemable, but it is quite unexpected, I think, how the season evolves,» Strahovski tells ET as she and Moss break down Serena’s birth scene.
The Emmy-nominated actress also reflects on her character’s unexpected demotion among the ranks of Gilead. [: Spoilers for episode 7.]Despite her position of power at the beginning of season 5, Serena finds herself struggling to tread water. «It’s a new space for the character,» Strahovski says, explaining that «the people in her life that once supported her, who maybe she had a lifeline with, everyone kind of seems to be really dropping away.»«And with Fred gone, I just think she is desperate and now she has the thing she’s always wanted, which is a baby on the way, but she doesn’t have any support,» she continues. «She has no structure, she’s got nothing.
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