'Handmaid's Tale' Star Yvonne Strahovski on Season 5's Intense Labor Scene: 'It Felt Very Personal' Because 'I Had Just Given Birth'

Mar. 15, 2025

Warning: This post contains spoilers for the upcoming season of Hulu’sThe Handmaid’s Tale.

“I read that episode and I was like, Oh, yes, this is going to be so amazing and fun to do,” Strahovski says. “It felt very personal to me becauseI had just given birth to my second son. I was literally postpartum, just a few months.”

Serena.Jasper Savage/Hulu

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“Even the biggest [twist] felt like when Serena suggests, ‘Maybe you should take him,’ there’s just so many sorts of realizations in this,” she explained. “There’s so many complicated emotional landings for Serena. It is just so magnificent to be five seasons into a show with a character and you’re not bored yet. That’s amazing.”

When Rubenstein asked if her character Serena might be misunderstood, Strahovski laughed and replied, “No.”

Even as she admitted it’s been fun playing such a complicated character, the actress also acknowledged, “It can be pretty conflicting at times to play someone like Serena Joy.”

She continued, “I’ve kind of always toed that line of,‘Oh, this is really fun.‘But it also feels very dirty, kind of justifying a lot of the things that she does — cause my job is to humanize her and all her actions, which are horrible.”

George Kraychyk/Hulu/Courtesy Everett

After the most recent episodes, there’s been a lot of speculation about the storyline and what will happen in the upcoming sixth and final season — specifically, will Serena and her nemesis June (Elisabeth Moss) unite or will they fight to the bitter end?

“I don’t know,” Strahovski said. “I’ve seen some of the commentary and it’s funny how people are like, ‘Oh my gosh, maybe this is the moment where they team up and they take down Gilead and whatever.'”

Thetwo-time Emmy nomineecontinued, “But it’s just so idealistic that there’s just no way the writers and Bruce Miller, our showrunner, would do that.”

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Strahovski did note that the tension between Serena and June is important: “I think the beauty of the June/Serena [conflict is], that’s where the action is at — when they collide. I would love to see that continue.”

And it seems like viewers can expect plenty more of that conflict.

“I just don’t think there was a happy ending,” she teased. “That’s why I love and respect the writers so much. Look at this season: the most obvious thing would’ve been let’s make Serena a handmaid. And that would be just, so cool to have that kind of revenge. But, that would be too obvious.”

She added, “I just would love to see that kind of unique storytelling continue ‘cause it’s just magnificent.”

The Handmaid’s Talepremieres new episodes Wednesdays on Hulu, andPEOPLE Every Daycan be streamed daily on multiple platforms includingiHeartMedia,Apple podcasts,Spotify,Stitcher,Amazon Music.

source: people.com