Yvonne Strahovski on the Vulnerable Side of Serena Joy in ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ [Exclusive Interview]

Arguably one of the best, most important, and most surprising new series of 2017 is the Emmy-Winning Hulu Original, The Handmaid’s Tale.

Based on the novel of the same name by Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale imagines a dystopian world where fewer and fewer women are able to have children, and those who are, are forced to do so.

Among the most complex characters in the series is Serena Joy Waterford, played by Yvonne Strahovski. I recently had the chance to chat with Strahovski about her experiences filming The Handmaid’s Tale and how she’s able to find the vulnerable side of the villain she portrays on screen.

Strahovski said that while the reaction to the series was even more powerful than she imagined it could be, she knew she was a part of something great from the beginning.

“When we were working on it and shooting the scenes, I remember thinking, ‘this is really great. This is definitely going to get recognized in some way shape or form.’ Because the energy was there on set, and just watching everyone around and their attention to detail, the performances, the writing, the direction, just everything — it just had an aura about it. I just had a feeling, but it has sort of gone above and beyond that with the reaction,” Strahovski exclaimed.

Though the original novel was published in 1985, it has become a story many can relate to even more now.

“It’s such a powerful story, and I think people have really sort of latched on to it and related to it in a way that I never could have imagined,” Strahovski said. “Probably because of current politics in The States, and how the election panned out, and all the issues that were being raised, especially to do with women. And of course that’s directly what the show you know talks about, in essence. I think there’s all kinds of reasons why it hit the way it did.”

“Sadly, you know Margaret Atwood always says that when she wrote it way back when, that it was always based on real things that had happened in history, and it’s true,” Strahovski continued.

“I mean it’s really awful that now, in a way, people are relating to it more than they originally felt like they were relating to it just because of what is going on in The States, especially with Trump being in power.”

Strahovski also spoke about how she managed to find humanity in the character of Serena Joy Waterford, a villain who on some level, we manage to feel a bit sorry for.

“It’s fantastic writing, and obviously they fleshed out the character of Serena Joy a lot more in the show than they do in the book. But it was definitely important for me to bring that vulnerable side of her forward and sort of try to connect with the audience,” Strahovski said. “Because she is unrelatable, and I wanted to try and find the bits that were relatable, which is a really hard task,” she laughed.

For Strahovski, that was the most difficult part about playing Serena Joy. “I mean, I’m not going to lie, it was sort of trying to put a puzzle together every time while we were making Season 1,” she admitted.

“I just think there’s so many dualities about what is going on in Serena’s world that allow for me to sort of get into her vulnerable side. I think she’s definitely the architect of her own mess. You know, she’s definitely one of the people who created this world for herself, but also at the same time, she lost her voice along the way in creating it, and probably doesn’t necessarily agree with some of the things that panned. You know, [such as] the ceremony situation. I think at the time, in her early days, she was probably very naive about how she wanted to fix the world, and save humanity, and refocus people’s energies on women and how they should be celebrating their biological destiny — and that is to produce children.”

Strahovski noted that the original plan, however, transformed and essentially lost its way.

“She lost her voice, because the men took over, and now here she is. I think she’s fighting, though. She’s trying to do something for the greater good, but at the same time, her humanity is fighting her as well. She has real feelings and real emotions about how awful the situation is for her.”

Add to that, Serena Joy’s motivations were originally, at least on some level, good.

“There was a pure motivation behind it of, ‘you know, we’re really in a terrible spot right now. We are going to die as a human race if we don’t do something about this now.’ That pure sort of — it feels to me like it would have been pure at some point, with celebrating what we as women biologically can achieve. But I mean it just turned into a nightmare,” Strahovski laughed.

Those motivations created a horrifying world, though, even for herself. The “ceremony” is just one example.

“You strip away all of the religious stuff and everything in her world that might have propelled her to be in the position she’s in, and you have to ask yourself — I mean what woman is okay with this ceremony situation? You know, how does this feel just on a cavewoman-based level?”

“And to have a woman of the same age walking around your house, being the woman that gets to be intimate with your husband while you do not, and also being the woman to produce a child when you’re so pro-children and bringing children in to the world, but that’s the very thing that you’re unable to do. I mean, it’s crushing. It’s just a mess of primal level emotion. There’s so much that she’s dealing with that she has no outlet for either,” Strahovski noted.

“It’s not like she has a friend to go to and bitch about the whole thing.” Serena Joy has created a situation for herself that is in fact very lonely. “That was one of the biggest themes that kept coming up for me in the filming of Season 1, is her just looking for a connection. Even to go as far as to get on her knees with The Commander, and do something that technically is illegal — a sexual act like that. But this desperation to connect with him. Even with Offred, there are so many sort of cooky moments in a way. They are enemies, but also maybe Serena is trying to find a friend in her in some weird way, because they’re just isn’t anything else,” Strahovski said.

One of the most fascinating things about the show is seeing the ways Serena Joy and Offred, played by Elisabeth Moss, interact with one another.

“It’s so great because the circumstances are so potent. There are many things to play with when you have these two women in this household who are pitted against each other,” Strahovski continued.

“I think there’s a lot of jealousy. There’s a lot of envy; there’s a lot of conflict with her religious side, trying to make this work and wanting it to work,” she explained. “I think she holds on desperately [to] the idea that she will get this baby one day, and that will be her ally perhaps. Maybe she will be able to survive in a better way in this world.”

As one might imagine, portraying a role like this can weigh on an actor. Strahovski admitted that especially as she was working to get to know the character, it was particularly challenging.

“You can’t help but sort of take it on. She’s a very miserable person,” Strahovski noted. “It definitely sort of overtook me in Season 1.” That’s become easier for the second season, however. “It’s different for me this season just knowing Serena Joy well now, and then trying to spend as little time with her as possible.”

After binge-watching a full season of The Handmaid’s Tale, it’s difficult to imagine that some of the most horrible villains are portrayed by some of the most of wonderful people, but that’s exactly the case. Strahovski shared one thing she thought fans might be surprised to learn about the show — that Ann Dowd is quite the opposite of her character, Aunt Lydia.

“Ann Dowd is the nicest person on the planet. For most people, they think she’s evil,” Strahovski said, laughing that most people “think that I’m evil too. Ann Dowd is one of the loveliest people on set.”

Be sure to catch Yvonne Strahovski as Serena Joy on The Handmaid’s Tale, which is currently available for streaming on Hulu. The series returns for Season 2 in 2018.

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