The Handmaid’s Tale star Yvonne Strahovski has reflected on her career to date, stating that she’s drawn to dark roles.
The actor has played Serena Joy Waterford in the dystopian drama from the beginning to the divisive season six finale, and has had to perform pretty disturbing material in that time.
Now that the show, which earned her two Emmy nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series, has wrapped up, she’s looking ahead to the future.
In an interview with Deadline, Strahovski was asked if she was ready to try her hand at some lighter fare like a comedy next.
“Oh my gosh, yes, I really am,” she laughed, before adding a little caveat. “It would be nice to have some light-hearted material, but I’ll always be drawn to the serious, complex stuff.
“I don’t know. I can’t seem to help it. It gives us all a place to put our darkness into, whether watching it, playing it, or making it. There is darkness out there, and it’s got to go somewhere.”
While Serena was an antagonist at first, she turned a corner and grew a conscience over the course of the series. She helped the rebellion, and found a new man in Commander Wharton who seemed to genuinely love her.
However, he revealed his true colours when he presented her with a handmaid, pulling right back into that awful cycle.
When it came to performing that scene, Strahovski explained that she really felt the emotions her character went through.
“When she walked into the room, I was shaken and enraged by it,” she said. “Of course, I’m feeling a lot of what Serena is in anticipation of the scene, so these are my/Serena’s feelings.
“I hadn’t been in a Gilead household that’s mine for so, so long, and Serena had been rid of that. I don’t think she ever expected to see this red dress and what it represents in her own home again. There was so much betrayal.”
