Yvonne Strahovski Breaks Down That Shocking ‘Handmaid’s Tale’ Finale Twist

I’m curious how that builds to, as you said, a very simple moment like this that’s also setting up a whole new avenue for these two characters who have been on these sort of parallel journeys until now.

I don’t know that we paid it too much thought. There was a line—is it there? I haven’t seen it, but do I ask her for a diaper in the scene?

Yes, you do. That’s the last line of the season.

Oh, my gosh. Okay. So they kept that. [Laughs] Yeah, we had honestly so much, the most discussion about the line. On paper it’s this big season finale, and here I am asking for a diaper. So it’s kind of like, That’s a bit weird! How do we make it so it’s not obviously about the diaper, but about what’s going on between these two women? We did many different takes of the ending. We did versions without the line. We did versions where I just said her name and she said mine. We did versions with the diaper line, then we changed up the diaper line. It was a whole different smorgasbord of potential endings with or without the diaper. Excited to see where they landed with that. [Laughs]

It’s kind of sweet in a weird way—whichever take they used, that was my takeaway.

There was also the practical conversation of, my baby’s much smaller than yours. Does it make sense to ask for a diaper? How many would I have already?

To me the line really spoke in a lot of ways just to the characters’ history. There’s a humor to the moment of them recognizing, well, here we are.

Yes. Maybe that’s why we didn’t talk too much about the scene itself, because I think we both felt like there was a lightness in this scene. We never kind of thought to lean into seriousness. The irony of it is what it felt like we should be leaning into. And therefore it was like, Oh, my gosh, of course, of course you are here.

In terms of the episode structure and really the whole season’s structure, this reveal is obviously a surprise for the audience. In those kinds of moments where we’re not with Serena for a chunk of time, do you fill in the gaps, just in terms of what happened that we don’t get to see, that’s not on the page?

Yeah, I thought about a lot of what might have happened to her. There was also that question of, Well, is she recognizable at this point? How expansive is that? Or how small is that kind of idea that she might be recognizable to some people? I was like, Well, what path would she have taken? In my mind, she would’ve ended up at some shelter where she could be anonymous and dressed down and receive aid of some kind, like clothing. She’s wearing super-normal stuff like jeans and somehow gets herself on that train, which I think would’ve been the biggest gamble. There was a discussion about how you’d have to receive a pass of some kind, a refugee pass, and be anonymous. I mean, she’s smart, so she would’ve had to figure it out.