The Handmaid’s Tale’s Serena Actor Reflects On Series Ending With Season 6: “Emotional For Me To Say Goodbye”
The Handmaid’s Tale is coming to an end, and one of its stars is not ready to say goodbye. Based on the book by Margaret Atwood, the show first premiered on April 26, 2017. It tells the story of June Osborne (Elisabeth Moss), a woman forced to serve as a Handmaid to a rich and powerful Commander. She quickly comes into conflict with Yvonne Strahovski’s Serena Joy, the Commander’s wife. The Handmaid’s Tale season 6 will bring an end to the series and is expected to premiere in 2025. It just began filming in September.
While speaking on the Bingeworthy podcast, Strahovski opened up about her complicated feelings about the coming conclusion. While she does believe that ending the show is the correct decision, she will struggle to say farewell. She explains her mixed emotions, while also explaining her satisfaction with the ending:
Initially, it was new territory for me. I found it really hard at times to justify her position in life and just in the scenes in general, and I spent a lot of time sitting with that. And, you know, obviously, as the years went by, it got easier and easier, and now I know her so well that it’s just sort of an automatic process. But, yeah, it’s definitely bittersweet [to say goodbye]. I think it’s definitely time to say goodbye , and I’m excited to put her away, make space for the new things that are around the corner, and just energetically, maybe let go of Serena.
I’m never sitting in her space, but you inevitably—you’re carrying a character, so you’re visiting that space often. So I think that will feel very liberating and lovely and like a new beginning . But obviously, it will be very emotional for me to say goodbye to her also because it feels like a breakup with a friend.
Strahovski Says Goodbye To The Handmaid’s Tale
It is no great surprise that Strahovski finds it difficult to say goodbye to Serena Joy. While she is undoubtedly a cruel and capricious character who has made the world a far worse place, it is a role that Strahovski has embodied for more than seven years. The show began filming in September 2016, and Strahovski has been playing the same role ever since. Though she is not quite the goodhearted and heroic June, Serena is still a complicated character that Strahovski has been left to dissect for years.
The narrative is expected to continue with the Testaments spinoff, which will follow Aunt Lydia, Agnes Jemima, and Daisy after June’s exit from Gilead. The only unfortunate element for Strahovski is that Serena is not expected to appear in the spinoff. She is going to need to say a complete goodbye after a long run on the show. Luckily, that does mean that she will be able to take her talents elsewhere, including to her upcoming show, Teacup. So, while it is a definitive farewell, it opens up her own story for future avenues.
Our Take On The Handmaid’s Tale’s Ending
The show has seen immense change over the years, as June escaped from captivity and finally entered Canada, but the slow and methodical pace could not continue forever. There is only so much that June could survive before the narrative becomes downright absurd, and it passed that point multiple times. While it remains a cinematographic masterpiece, exploring the same narrative element of June’s constant captures is tiring. It is time for The Handmaid’s Tale to go, even if it is sad to see an ending coming so soon after June and Serena finally reconnected in the season 5 finale.
