Just because The Handmaid’s Tale is in the middle of a rebellion doesn’t mean there’s no time for Serena to find herself a new man.
Ahead of the series finale, viewers were celebrating some of the highlights from the Tuesday, May 20, episode where Commander Wharton (Josh Charles), Nick (Max Minghella) and Commander Lawrence (Bradley Whitford) were some of the biggest casualties of the resistance breaking out in Gilead.
Wharton’s death left his new wife, Serena (Yvonne Strahovski), a widow. Luckily, fans pointed out that there was another option for Serena (whose marriage was rocky even though it only lasted a few hours) after she shared a quick — but interesting — moment with Mark (Sam Jaeger).
“The absolute scream I let out. FINALLY. The sexual tension immediately,” read an X post alongside screen grabs from the scene where Mark stormed Serena’s home before taking her to safety. “About time Mark & Serena have a scene together.”
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Another social media user referred to Mark as Serena’s “guardian angel” despite them not interacting often. There were several viewers certain that Serena and Mark would find time to talk more before the series came to an end.
“Can we talk about the chemistry of these two, now, at very end?” a fan wrote via X. “Serena, you can have a good man for once in your life, choose wisely.”
The romance speculation comes days — in Gilead time — after Serena married Wharton. Despite a sweet courtship, their relationship hit a major obstacle when Wharton introduced Serena to their new handmaid on their wedding night.
“Commander Wharton, I feel like he has been very consistent all along. He hasn’t been pulling the wool over Serena’s eyes. He’s been very sincere about how he feels,” coshowrunner Yahlin Chang exclusively told Us Weekly about the tense conclusion to Serena’s wedding night. “So he’s incredibly confused by Serena’s reaction.”
Chang argued that Wharton’s intentions shouldn’t have come as a surprise.
“Josh Charles was a dream to work with and was so thoughtful and smart about the character. But the thing about Wharton is, I feel like from the very beginning, he’s shown who he is,” she noted. “He was very sincere with his feelings for Serena and his desire to have a big family.”
Chang continued: “Because of his love and lust for Serena, he was really trying to open his mind and be accommodating. He’s a very conservative guy, but he did say, ‘I want you to keep writing. I want you to do all these things.’”
According to Chang, miscommunication led to immediate issues between Serena and Wharton after a whirlwind romance.
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“He’s mature enough to know that’s the woman that he’s fallen in love with. Serena is a force to be reckoned with — and that’s part of why he was in love with her. In his mind, having a big family — especially when you’re marrying a woman of a certain age with a biological clock ticking in the midst of a fertility crisis — that means having a handmaid,” she added. “To him, he doesn’t understand. He just does not understand her reaction against it because it’s just so baked into the system. So if anyone was really blind to what it all really meant, it was Serena.”
While speaking to Us, coshowrunner Eric Tuchman teased what fans can expect about the show’s ending.
“I think we can expect an honest conclusion to the story. We keep using the word honest because we try our best to be realistic,” he noted. “What would happen in real life — and what we hope people take away — is this feeling of hopefulness and resilience that June and many of the other characters have demonstrated and will demonstrate in the last couple of episodes.”
Tuchman continued: “When you’re up against an oppressive regime and when your rights are stripped away, you just never stop fighting. You keep going. Hopefully people will draw some optimism and feel empowered by what plays out.”
New episodes of The Handmaid’s Tale are released Tuesdays on Hulu.
