The Handmaid's Tale's Yvonne Strahovski On The 'Ick Feeling' She Got From That Episode 8 Serena/Wharton Scene
This post contains spoilers from Tuesday's episode of The Handmaid's Tale. Proceed accordingly.
Though it was not her first time on- or off-screen as a bride, Yvonne Strahovski says that filming the big wedding in this week's The Handmaid's Tale was an anxiety-inducing affair.
"I was just so genuinely nervous!" she tells TVLine. "Which was lovely, you know? It was something to play into for the day and have a good laugh."
And that bit of levity was fortunate, given the turn the episode takes after Strahovski's Serena and Josh Charles' High Commander Wharton return home after their nuptials. He carries her across the threshold only for her to see a handmaid waiting for them, a "gift" from High Commander Bell to help the new Mrs. Wharton fulfill her duties of bringing forth a bountiful family.
In an instant, Serena realizes that she's once more been duped into thinking she had any say in her life as a woman in Gilead, er, New Bethelehem. "I was so stupid to do this again!" she says, crying and retrieving her infant son. "I thought you were a better man, but you're just like the rest of them!" Then she demands to leave, an action she can only take when Wharton calls off the armed Guardian stationed by the front door. (Read a full recap here.)
Serena ends the episode wandering the streets of Gilead, with Noah in her arms and nowhere to go. Read on as Strahovski takes us inside the shooting of the episode and how she was "actually shaking" during Serena's showdown with Wharton.
TVLINE | Let's back up a little bit. In your mind, how is Serena able to push away everything she's gone through in Gilead and come back to assume the role of ambassador for New Bethlehem?
YVONNE STRAHOVSKI | I don't think she is able to push away the fears in everything she's lived through. I think she makes the choice to become the face of New Bethlehem out of sheer survival and necessity, because she knows that if she stays in Canada that the Wheelers or somebody like the Wheelers, Gilead, The Eyes, they're going to come and get her. She's not going to be as protected.
The choice of New Bethlehem to me, in my mind, seemed like her better option because she was going to be very much in the public eye. There's a protection built into that, and she was going to have certain freedoms that she wasn't allowed to have before.
But again, I don't think she entered into this arrangement without all the fears. There's tons of fears in what's going on and what could happen. But I just think she was between a rock and a hard place... and this was the better option.
TVLINE | And then Commander Wharton comes into the picture.
[Dreamily] Commander Wharton. [Laughs]
TVLINE | He says all the right things. Do you think Fred ever romanced her the way that Wharton does?
Yes, I think so. I think Serena and Fred definitely, at some point, they were in love. I do think that. I think they had a loving relationship, romance, passion for sure. I do think that. That's where I started with her to begin with. I think there was a betrayal from Fred toward Serena, pre-June/Offred, when they had a previous handmaid — whatever happened there, there was an affair or something. I think all of her dreams were shattered then, and that was the emotional springboard for me to create Serena and not look at her objectively, in a judgmental way. That was what it was.
So, I do think there was that, and I think this is another genuine moment where she genuinely has a love connection with this guy, with Wharton.
TVLINE | In her defense, he has that speech where he's like, "I want you to be able to write. I want you to have your aspirations." I imagine that's the sexiest thing she's heard in quite some time.
Definitely. She hasn't heard that for a long time. I do think Fred said that to her, too. I do think that —because initially she was a writer, she is a writer. She wrote a book. But I think there's something different about Wharton where Gilead is already in existence, and they're already pursuing these political, religious beliefs in this system. So, maybe she feels a little safer with it.
TVLINE | Please take me inside the shooting of the wedding. Anything you want to tell me. Go.
The dress was extraordinary. I mean, the whole thing looked incredible... I was so nervous! [Laughs] I don't know what came over me, it was like this was my own wedding.
This might sound weird, but I don't like a big, large group of people staring at me. So suddenly I'm walking down the aisle and everyone's staring at me, and I'm — I mean, I don't know if you've ever tried to walk down an aisle in heels. Suddenly you've got the wobbles and you can't walk straight, and it was a whole thing. [Laughs] ...Josh is fun, so fun to work with and we just had a good laugh sitting up on the podium up there and watching Bradley Whitford [who plays Commander Lawrence] and Ever Carradine [who plays Naomi Lawrence] and everyone judging us, in character with their judgmental looks. [Laughs] It was a fun day.
TVLINE | I will have you know that my dad stepped on my dress right as we started down some stairs to enter my wedding, and I thought I was going to tumble down the aisle. So I feel you on walking an aisle in heels.
I have a similar story! My dog took my wedding veil off. My dog stepped on my wedding veil, and took the whole thing off, when we did ours. [Laughs] So, yeah, I understand.
TVLINE | They seem so happy at the reception... and then the real world sets in when they get home.
Yeah. You know, it's all peaches, roses and unicorns for a while there, and we think, "Wow, they're on the same page, and they've discussed the page. They have talked about the page, everyone knows about the page, we're good!" And then, we're married, and we get home, and it becomes apparent very quickly that they are not on the same page.
[The Serena-Wharton fight] was one of my favorite scenes to shoot of the season. Obviously it's got some spice to it, because I love the spicy scenes. But it really took me back to one of the original ick feelings that I had in the earlier seasons. Well, the scenes, but also the setup: being back in a Gileadean house with an office... it just sort of threw me right back into the feeling of genuine outrage. I remember actually shaking. It was kind of triggering, actually, being in that environment again and doing the scene.
But I love the scene. The scene is really juicy. I can't wait for people to see that.