Not way back Yvonne Strahovski, who performs lovely, ruthless, deeply difficult Serena on “The Handmaid’s Tale,” was compelled to observe early scenes of her character’s cruelty.
Of course, Serena was being merciless to long-suffering heroine June (Elisabeth Moss). It wasn’t a pleasant expertise to relive.
“I was dying. I wanted to vomit! It was horrible,” Strahovski mentioned in an interview, of footage performed at a panel occasion. “To go back and look at that was insanely jarring.”
To which longtime “Handmaid’s” followers would seemingly reply: Tell us about it, Serena! We’ve gone by hell and again ourselves, for 56 episodes.
Rapes. Mass hangings. Shootings. Torture. Kids torn from moms, tongues from mouths. And extra. The searing Hulu drama a few totalitarian state that treats ladies as property, primarily based on the Margaret Atwood novel, might have been sensible. But the brilliance got here from abject darkness.
So reward be, loyal followers: Creators of the present felt your ache. They need you to know that this, the sixth and last season, can be completely different.
It will nonetheless be Gilead, to make certain. As Bradley Whitford’s ever-quotable Commander Lawrence would say: “Gilead’s gonna Gilead.” But it will likely be faster-paced, and extra satisfying. There can be catharsis and redemption — rewards for all that fan loyalty.
Yes. Don’t take it from us (although we’ve previewed the primary eight episodes). Take it from June herself.
Moss, who not solely stars however directs 4 episodes this season, says it was round season 4 or 5 when creators realized they wished to maneuver away “from too much in-your-face darkness.”
Of course, the present’s hardly was a sitcom.
“We wouldn’t be ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ if we didn’t have those dark moments,” she says. “It would be dishonest.” But, she says, “We did want to bring in more lightness and levity.”
Helpful in that regard: Whitford’s whipsmart characterization of Commander Lawrence, who tosses off memorable one-liners like “Serena, are you suffering from an irony deficiency?”
Whitford confirms a reporter’s suspicions that he’d provide you with that one himself. “I’ve been telling that joke for years,” he says. “I pitched it … and I’m very proud of it.”
Eric Tuchman, showrunner with Yahlin Chang, acknowledges individuals had began to search out the present “a hard watch … and that was honestly a way we as writers were beginning to feel.”
So, together with shunning essentially the most excessive cruelty, the present has deserted what he calls the “more languid pacing” of the previous.
“We had a lot of stories we wanted to tell in 10 episodes,” Tuchman says. “We wanted the season to have a feeling of momentum and to be propulsive.”
Adds Chang: “It was a now-or-never factor — that is the final probability we get to inform these tales with these characters.”
We can seemingly count on fewer countless gazes into June’s tearful eyes. There’s stuff to get executed.
A lot of characters have flirted with the opposite aspect, morally, within the present — good individuals doing horrible issues, horrible individuals sometimes doing good. Well, it is time for everybody to take a stand.
“People don’t stay the same,” Moss says. “Someone’s gonna go to the dark side, someone’s gonna go to the light. But … you can’t just plod along, avoiding choosing a side. At a certain point, you have to choose.”
Of course we’ve at all times recognized the place June stood, because the present’s ethical compass — even when many viewers had been surprised/perplexed/irritated every time she returned to Gilead of her personal accord.
But June’s gonna June, as Lawrence may say.
When we left her in season 5, June had simply escaped Toronto, the place the tide was turning towards refugees from Gilead. She boarded a prepare headed westward, together with child Nichole. Then she heard one other child’s cry, and it turned out Serena, her former tormentor from Gilead, was there too, along with her personal child. “Got a diaper?” Serena requested.
While the upshot of this prepare journey is one in every of many forbidden spoilers, it’s secure to say June and Serena’s relationship stays … thorny.
Strahovski herself isn’t certain Serena is redeemable.
“She has softened. She’s made redeemable choices. And if there’s ever going to be a bigger redeemable moment, it may occur this season,” Strahovski teases. But she provides: “I don’t know if any of it is entirely forgivable.”
Then there’s Aunt Lydia. The very title strikes terror for many who bear in mind the horrid issues she did to these handmaids.
But Lydia is already exhibiting indicators of change. (She’s additionally going to be central in an upcoming sequel, “The Testaments,” primarily based on a later Atwood novel.)
Ann Dowd says it’s all about love — for Janine, her favourite handmaid.
“Love changes everything,” Dowd says. “It’s the most powerful thing in the world.”
“This role has really pushed me to corners I never imagined,” Strahovski says. “It’s made me a better actress for it, 100%.”
As for Moss, she says her “whole professional life has changed on this show.” Not solely as actor, however as director and producer.
“For me, that’s been massive,” she says. “I like performing a lot, however I did want one thing extra to sink my enamel into … I wished be extra concerned in all sides of what we do, and I’ve realized a lot.
“The Handmaid’s Tale” premiered in 2017, six months earlier than the #MeToo motion erupted. In 2022, Roe v. Wade was overturned.
“As a woman, I have fewer rights now than when I started on the show,” says showrunner Chang. “I never thought that we would lose Roe v. Wade, even working on the show … And that does start to get infused into our writing.”
Whitford brings up the plight of pregnant rape victims “who do not have access to contraception or abortion care, or the healthcare that they need.”
“It’s certainly been in our consciousness,” he says, “It’s a reason why you need a show like this, about resistance.”
As for Moss, she prefers to quote the persevering with relevance of Atwood’s story, 40 years on.
“Of course it had a relevancy that you couldn’t ignore in 2017,” she says. “But I don’t know when this guide and this materials has ever not been related … You have a look at the present and go, God, are they attempting to make that connection? No, I believe we’re simply attempting to be sincere and inform the story of those individuals on this place, and it occurs to be one thing that’s extremely related and current.”
© Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This materials will not be revealed, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed with out permission.