The Handmaid’s Tale has given us many complex female characters, but few have been as polarizing — and captivating — as Serena Joy Waterford, played with icy precision and emotional depth by Yvonne Strahovski. In a recent interview, the Emmy-nominated actress revealed that Serena’s journey almost ended much earlier — and in a drastically different way.

So how was Serena’s story originally supposed to end? And what does the change say about the writers’ evolving vision for the show?

An Ending That Never Happened

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter in 2022, Strahovski shared that Serena was originally set to die at the end of Season 2. That season ended with Serena’s painful decision to let baby Nicole leave Gilead with June — a brief moment of redemption after years of cruelty.

“That was the original idea, actually,” Strahovski confirmed. “I was told during the second season that there were conversations about Serena dying, possibly in the fire at the Waterford house.”

Ultimately, the writers changed course — a decision that Strahovski fully supported. She said continuing Serena’s arc allowed for “a more complex character study,” especially as Serena begins to realize that the very system she helped create has turned against her.

A Character Built on Contradictions

From the beginning, Serena has stood as both architect and prisoner of Gilead. A former author and activist, she helped lay the ideological groundwork for the theocratic regime — only to be silenced and stripped of power once it came to fruition. Her contradictions are central to her character: she’s a victim and an oppressor, a grieving mother and a symbol of state violence.

Had Serena died in Season 2, viewers would’ve lost the opportunity to explore that deeply flawed evolution — from powerful enabler to political exile to, eventually, a mother living in Canada under scrutiny.

As Strahovski told Elle in 2022:

“I love playing that ambiguity. There’s something very human about a character who keeps believing she’s right even when everything around her is collapsing.”

A Storyline That Echoes Real-World Extremism

Serena’s extended storyline became especially relevant in later seasons as she tries to gain political influence in Canada, manipulating media and public sympathy — even while defending a fascist regime. This mirrored modern real-world dynamics: how authoritarians gain soft power through victim narratives.

“Serena’s arc isn’t about redemption,” showrunner Bruce Miller told Variety. “It’s about survival. And how even villains can pivot when it suits them.”

That complexity would have been lost with an early death. Instead, the writers allowed Serena to live — not as a reward, but as a means of examining complicity, motherhood, and power in a world of shifting allegiances.

The Power of Keeping Her Alive

By Season 5, Serena has become almost a second protagonist — not because viewers root for her, but because her downfall is deeply personal and richly layered. Her moments of suffering, such as being forced into a Handmaid-like position or losing custody of her child, are painful — but they never erase her past crimes.

Strahovski has consistently avoided defending Serena’s choices, saying instead that she plays her from a place of belief:

“Serena doesn’t think she’s a villain. She thinks she’s doing what’s right. And that’s what makes her dangerous.”

Killing Serena in Season 2 might’ve been narratively satisfying. But keeping her alive has proven far more powerful. It forces audiences to grapple with questions of punishment, gendered power, and whether people like Serena ever truly change — or just adapt.

Thanks to Yvonne Strahovski’s nuanced performance and the writers’ decision to extend her arc, Serena Joy has evolved into one of television’s most fascinating anti-heroines — not in spite of her survival, but because of it.