In The Handmaid’s Tale season 6 and in the series finale, June Osborne (Elisabeth Moss) chooses to forgive Serena Joy (Yvonne Strahovski) for not only her part in Gilead, but for her role in her own personal suffering. The Hulu show adapted Margaret Atwood’s influential and relevant novel to screen, which chronicled June’s time in the theonomic tyranny of Gilead, a drastically reformed American government that forced fertile women to become childbearing slaves to fend off an infertility crisis. During her time as a Handmaid, June was assigned to the Waterfords, bringing her into contact with Serena Joy Waterford.

Wife to Gilead commander Fred Waterford (Joseph Fiennes), Serena Joy was the woman whom June was expected and forced to bear a child for, leading to them having an intense and bitter relationship across the series. However, as time passes, Serena becomes more disillusioned with the world she brought into existence. Ultimately, in season 6, Serena shared intel that the Boston Commanders are set to take a flight to Washington D.C., giving June and the Mayday resistance an opportunity to take down the branch of Gilead leadership with one swift and decisive strike.

Love & Forgiveness Was A Major Part Of The Handmaid’s Tale Season 6

June Was Forced To Reckon With Past Pains

Image via Hulu

Image via Hulu

Image by Yeider Chacon

Image via Hulu

Image via Hulu

As Serena and June were brought face to face one last time in the aftermath of the battles in Boston, they connected over what happens next and whom they lost. However, with Serena and her son Noah looking at the worst fate if they return to Gilead, June helps the pair receive passage to a UN refugee camp with the aid of Tuello (Sam Jaeger). Serena admits her shame at everything she inflicted on June, and while June remarks that she should, she says she forgives Serena in her final farewell.

It’s clear from June’s response that she doesn’t intend to think Serena should absolve herself so easily of everything she did, but June spent much of the season resolving her strained bonds. At the start of the season, June was brought into contact with her mother, Holly (Cherry Jones), after having assumed she had died in the colonies. Despite Holly falling out over June’s lifestyle choices before the rise of Gilead, the pair ultimately reconcile in an emotional reunion at a refugee camp in a moment that showed June how easily things can be taken away and leave unanswered questions.

Prior to her turn, Lydia had been loyal to Gilead with an incredibly warped idea of “protecting” the Handmaidens that often involved horrific abuse, but her turn in the lead-up to the Boston revolt played a part in achieving their victory. Despite their past actions, Lydia and Serena did risk their livelihoods to bring Gilead down, and June recognizes the potential cost their actions may have brought, allowing her to at the very least know what she needs to do to move on peacefully.

Serena Joy Did Change In The Handmaid’s Tale

Serena’s Growth Wasn’t Straightforward, But It Was Notable

Serena’s own personal journey also wasn’t an instantaneous one where she only changed once the tides had begun to turn. Despite her position and part in creating the landscape that allowed for Gilead’s rise through her writing, Serena had quickly learned that she couldn’t escape Gilead’s rules, and was pushed into a subservient housewife role, even suffering abuse at the hands of Fred when she and June tried to help a family in a dire situation. Despite this, Serena still remained by him, indulging in cruel acts out of their desire for a child.

However, in season 2, Serena hopes that she can change the system from within Gilead, an effort that ultimately costs her her left pinky finger and makes her more sympathetic to June’s cause. Though this only marked the start of a long journey that saw Serena act largely in whatever actions suited her best at the time, each experience further exposed her to the truth about Gilead and placed her directly into the positions June had found herself in. By the time season 6 started, she was just another refugee on the run with her new son, Noah, humbling her to the true state of the world.

As such, while she was eager to give Gilead a second chance and saw Joseph Lawrence’s (Bradley Whitford) vision of New Bethlehem as a potential fresh start for the nation, it doesn’t take much for her to see through the lies when her new husband, Commander Wharton (Josh Charles) brings home a Handmaid. Enraged that nothing has changed, Serena hands over the intel on the Commander’s plans to June and the Mayday resistance, bringing this chapter of the horror to a close. Despite her complicated past, Serena had shown that she could change for the better and put her life on the line when righting her wrongs.

Serena Joy’s Ending Mirrored June’s Beginning

The Setting Of The Conversation Is An Intentionally Eerie Callback

Image via Hulu

Serena’s final scene also emphasizes the lengths that her journey has taken her across the entirety of The Handmaid’s Tale‘s run, as she now sits by herself in a sparsely furnished room, awaiting her fate. This is a direct parallel to how June was introduced in the series’ beginning as she awaited her new assignment at the Waterfords. While she was not in danger of being forced into Handmaiden duties, she is still left in dread of what awaits her and Noah, given how she has few routes of safety.

When paired with how her experiences had already exposed her to the horrors that her efforts had inflicted on others, her fate brings her experience full circle. However, rather than inflict Serena with the same terror and having time and time again tried to show Serena the error of her ways, June chooses the option to do the right thing. As such, the choice of setting can also be seen as righting the original sin that started June down her path.

Will Serena Return In The Testaments?

The Sequel Novel Will Be Brought To Television

Image via Hulu

Image via Hulu

Image via Hulu

With Serena and Noah likely on their way to a new life outside the horrors of Gilead, it is unclear what their fate will be. Neither character plays a part in The Testaments, Atwood’s sequel novel that is set to be adapted for television. As such, it wouldn’t be unlikely that the pair faded from the history books, just another pair of lost souls whose lives were shattered by Gilead, but given the opportunity to start again.

However, with Aunt Lydia set to act as one of the leads of The Testaments as a double agent, and Tuello acting on the frontlines in the war against Gilead, it is possible that Serena’s fate may be addressed. Despite her initial refusal to work against Gilead upon their meeting and their various wars of words, Serena and Tuello did have a strong understanding at the very least, explaining why he’d be eager to help her. As such, his potential involvement in The Testaments could allow Serena’s post-The Handmaid’s Tale life to be addressed.