‘The Handmaid’s Tale’: Elisabeth Moss Explains Why June Didn’t Kill Serena
Elisabeth Moss returns to her role as June in The Handmaid’s Tale Season 5. This season focuses on the ultimate face-off between June and Serena Joy, but things don’t go as expected. Though June has opportunities where she could have killed Serena or left her to die, she doesn’t do it. Here’s why Moss says her character makes that choice.
[SPOILER ALERT: Spoilers ahead for The Handmaid’s Tale Season 5 Episode 7, “No Man’s Land.”]
June chose not to kill Serena in ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Season 5
In The Handmaid’s Tale Season 5, Serena Joy Waterford is public enemy number one for June. Her hatred only grows when she sees Serena with her daughter Hannah at Fred’s funeral. June confesses to her husband, Luke, that all she can think about is killing Serena. In episode 4, she has the opportunity.
June and Luke come face to face with Serena when she is being ushered out of Gilead’s new information center. June has a gun, but she doesn’t shoot her. Later, while Serena is in labor, she asks June why she didn’t kill her. The Handmaid’s Tale star Elisabeth Moss explained her character’s answer.
Elisabeth Moss explains why June didn’t choose revenge in ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Season 5
There are quite a few logical reasons for June not to shoot Serena. Luke and Moira have both pointed out that revenge isn’t worth June losing her family and spending the rest of her life in prison. However, June doesn’t say any of this in response to Serena’s question. She answers, “I didn’t want to.”
“I think violence is a complicated thing that we explore on our show,” Moss said while speaking to TVLine. “And I think when it comes down to it, the violence that she inflicted on Fred didn’t make her feel better. It didn’t solve anything. It didn’t do anything. Violence is not the answer.”
“She just answers so honestly,” Moss continued of June. “She wants her [Serena] to be a good person. She wants her to realize that she can be a good person. June is Serena’s biggest ally, believe it or not.”
June coached Serena through the birth of her son
In The Handmaid’s Tale Season 5 Episode 7, the connection between June and Serena is undeniable. June certainly doesn’t have to help Serena through her labor, and it would be hard to blame her if she didn’t. Yet June stays in the barn and coaches her through her son’s birth.
Even when Serena offers to let June take Noah and leave her to die, June refuses to leave her behind. “We mattered,” June says of herself and the other handmaids. “We were — we are people. We have lives, and that’s why I’m gonna save yours, Serena. Because this isn’t Gilead, and I am not you.”
Don’t miss new episodes of The Handmaid’s Tale Season 5 Wednesdays on Hulu.
