“The Handmaid’s Tale” creator Bruce Miller said Serena Joy Waterford (Yvonne Strahovski), who dabbles between her solidarity to Gilead and her desire to be an independent woman is in part due to the complicated relationship she has had with the men in her life, specifically her father. Miller explained the creative team’s decision to introduce her quiet yet stoic father was partially rooted in answering why she married her late husband Commander Fred Waterford ( Joseph Fiennes) in the first place.
“We’ve learned about her, but this is really interesting, because it’s not about a relationship she chose, like with Fred, which tells us a lot about her,” Miller told TheWrap. “Why did you choose Fred? I think people were wondering that. Here, you’re like, how did you become the woman you are? I think that’s the really interesting question now, because you’ve plumbed the depths of Serena to know what’s there, you know the woman that’s there. So when you get to Season 6, you’re asking the question of, what was her father like? And I don’t think you are at the beginning, because I think she has a million relationships in her life, but that one gets much more interesting when you realize how much steel she has.”
About 28 minutes into Episode 2’s “Exile,” as Serena is hiding out in an enclosed women and children-only community in Canada, she drifts into memories about her father. For viewers, the sequence appears as a flashback in which Serena’s dad makes an appearance for the very first time.
“Don’t step on my azaleas,” her father gently cautions his daughter. The camera focuses in on his trembling hands, showing that he appears to be suffering from Parkinson’s Disease.
“It was one time, dad. One time,” Serena replies back.
In sharing his happiness that his child is home, fresh off her book tour, her father — a pastor — also tells her that there are “dark” days ahead and that he is glad folks are looking to Serena for hope and change. By this point, watchers may deduce that much of Serena’s controversial religious beliefs were influenced by her dad. At the end of their first conversation, he asks her to tell him about the “boy” (Fred) who fancies her.
Her father’s second appearance comes at around 35 minutes in. Her father’s condition has worsened and he is now bound to a wheelchair. Serena apologizes for failing to keep up her father’s roses, as her “busy” schedule leading the country through its transformation into Gilead has kept her “so busy.” And like before, Serena excitedly tells her dad her good news: “We’re about to change the country. We’re finally living up to God’s word, and the whole world is going to become a new Garden of Eden, just like you always wanted.” This time around, her father is non-verbal. By the end of the episode, Commander Lawrence (Bradley Whitford) and his wife Naomi (Ever Carradine) urge Serena to return to Gilead to lead their new establishment New Bethlehem.
Miller says Serena’s relationship with her father helps expound upon what viewers saw of her relationship with her mother Pamela (Laila Robins) in Season 3.
“We had talked about her father a lot, and what her relationship with her father was. Writers, Yahlin and Eric, who are the showrunners this season, and Yvonne and [Moss] — we’ve talked about her quite a bit. And when we did the episode where she went and saw her mother, that was a little different, because it was not a flashback,” Miller explained. “We met her mother in the story. It was after she and Fred had had troubles — they’re all troubles with Fred. So I think that this is different and I think the flashbacks we have seen have been her with Fred and her, and about herself.”
“The Handmaid’s Tale” Season 6 is now streaming on Hulu.
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