Now that we all know how The Handmaid’s Tale ends and June’s story begins, it’s time to turn our attention to a slightly less important — yet nevertheless pressing — question: Didn’t it seem like Serena Joy and Mark Tuello kinda had a slight thing for each other?
On its face, the idea is ridiculous. Serena, played by Yvonne Strahovski, was the ur-tradwife, a religious conservative whose quest for power was instrumental in replacing the United States of America with the hypocritical patriarchy of Gilead. Meanwhile Tuello, a high-ranking American military commander played by Sam Jaeger, spent his tenure in the Hulu series working to bring down the abomination of a nation that Serena helped create.
That said, the moment Tuello was introduced in Season 2, we felt a little something-something of a potential romance brewing between the characters — despite the fact that, at one point, he arrested her as a war criminal. So we decided to ask Strahovski about it during a recent chat about the finale. (Read a full episode recap here, then see why Serena almost died in the show’s final hour).
TVLINE | Can we talk about the alternate universe in which Tuello and Serena are absolutely a couple? Especially when Sam first joined the show, there was a very interesting vibe between the two of them.
YVONNE STRAHOVSKI | Well, yeah, I mean, I think he came in pretty purposefully flirty in that very first scene. I mean, he was gonna use everything he had to try and get Serena to talk. It’s funny, comparing that scene to now this episode, [Season 6, Episode] 9 scene where she does talk, right? Essentially, she does give away the information. So yeah, Mark did try. And I think he, for the longest time, tried to appeal to her in that way. They were manipulating each other in a lot of ways. It was such a smart way to go about it, because Serena is starved of love and attention and men desiring her in a world where she… doesn’t have that in Gilead. So it was a very interesting choice, and then I think she just gave it right back to him.
TVLINE | I’m here for it, is all.
[Laughs] Sure. To get, you know, a better room in the Detention Center. Get some nice wardrobe provisions. Sure, Marky Mark. [Laughs]
TVLINE | And how things change by the finale, when he’s barking at her to get on the bus to the refugee center!
Yeah. But there is a hint. We do leave it with a little hint. I was joking around on set, because his last line to Serena is, “I’ll find you.” And I kept referencing Last of the Mohicans, kept yelling that out: “I will find you!” [Laughs]
