The Handmaid’s Tale Showrunner on Bringing More Backstory to One of Its Most Complicated Characters

Watching The Handmaid’s Tale for the first time, the inevitable question soon rises: how did a place as oppressive and cruel as Gilead come to be? Over six seasons, we’ve learned the Gilead origin story through flashbacks sprinkled into the main narrative—something that feels increasingly like a cautionary tale for American viewers in 2025—and the Hulu show has also filled in blanks for its main players. But in a recent episode, it gave us another fresh glance into one character’s life “before.” We’ve long been fascinated with Serena Joy Waterford, deftly played by Yvonne Strahovski as a woman who backed Gilead’s right-wing Christian agenda from the start and married Fred Waterford, who became the powerful Commander Waterford once the United States underwent its forced transformation. Though Serena was once a popular author and political speaker, she willingly put her career aside and became a dutiful wife—for a time. As The Handmaid’s Tale has progressed, we’ve learned Serena is far ... Read full article.