The Handmaid’s Tale almost had a different ending with this character’s death - Here’s why it was changed

The Handmaid’s Tale has come to an end with an epic series finale that gave a satisfying conclusion to June’s story. In the final episode, the rebellion led to the city’s liberation, and June returned to the Waterford house to write a book about her life story.

Meanwhile, she also forgave Serena, who had caused great suffering for her throughout the series but ultimately redeemed herself at the end. However, The Handmaid’s Tale could have had a pretty different ending had showrunner Bruce Miller stuck to his original plan.

Miller has revealed that he initially wanted to kill off Serena in the series finale. Though he held that thought for a long time, he eventually decided to let her live, as he felt June forgiving her would be a better conclusion for the character.

The Handmaid’s Tale showrunner planned to kill Serena in the series finale

In an interview with TVLine, Bruce Miller stated that he initially planned that in The Handmaid’s Tale finale, Serena’s identity would be exposed at a checkpoint and she would be executed. Highlighting how it almost happened to her multiple times over the course of the series, the showrunner said:

“Certainly Serena, because I felt like, in that situation, what would really happen is probably at some checkpoint they would pull her out, find out who she is and execute her by the side of the road.”

“That’s what Mayday would do if they found her. Because that’s what almost happened every time she runs into a group of people is that they almost execute her! [Laughs] So that really was in my mind for a long time.”

However, Miller changed the ending as the story was being told through June’s perspective, who might have described Serena differently out of sympathy had she known that she was going to die at the end:

“But I also felt like there was something about the way June — and as you see by the end, this is really her telling the story — I think she would have told Serena’s story differently if the end was that she was dead. I don’t know why, but it feels like Serena wins if she dies. She gets the last word. And I don’t want June feeling sorry for her.”

The showrunner added that June forgave Serena for her own peace and not because she genuinely felt sorry for the lady who had made her life a living hell in earlier seasons:

“June forgives Serena for June, not for Serena, because as she said, ‘You gotta start somewhere.’ [Serena was kept alive] more for June and for the story, and also for what I consider real retribution for Serena: You know, 20 years, 30 years from now, when her son says, ‘What did you do, Mom?’ That’s what you want.”

In the penultimate episode of The Handmaid’s Tale, Serena helped the rebels as she revealed the High Commander’s flight details at June’s persuasion. In the finale, she survived and was sent to a UN refugee camp along with her son, Noah.

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Yvonne Strahovski played the role of Serena in the dystopian drama and was joined by Elisabeth Moss as June, Alexis Bledel as Emily, Madeline Brewer as Janine, Ann Dowd as Aunt Lydia, Amanda Brugel as Rita, and Bradley Whitford as Commander Joseph.

All episodes of The Handmaid’s Tale are now streaming on Hulu.

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