but is nothing but a ray of sunshine in real life.
You know her as Serena from the very popular "Handmaid's Tale."
Please welcome the very talented Yvonne Strahovski!
What up?
I have a lot of energy.
- It was, I feel like I should, like, match you.
- How are you? Welcome to the show.
And I love that you're still eating almonds right now
as you were moments ago during the preinterview.
I'm obsessed with you already.
I truly am obsessed with you already.
- I'm trying to--
trying to be subtle about the snacking.
- I love it, listen. This is a safe space.
You can snack, you can do you during this interview.
You just finished wrapping season four
of "The Handmaid's Tale."
In Toronto, by the way, which is my hometown.
We'll get to that in a second.
But what was quarantine like?
- We did a bunch of camping.
So my husband and I are big campers,
and because everything was closed,
we ended up using this app
where people advertise their private land,
and you can go and camp in people's, like,
apple orchards or ranches and things like that.
So it was, like, our way of figuring out
how to socialize in this crazy time.
And, like, we would invite some friends and all camp,
you know, super far apart and have our fire.
- That sounds so meaningful
but also the start of every horror movie I've ever watched.
So I'm, like, kind of-- you know what I mean?
We're on the private land where there's no rules or laws.
- You know, that's so true.
I have to say there was one time where we were stay--
you know, on someone's land.
I think it might have been the apple orchard.
And, like, there were these two guys
that pulled up in this pickup truck.
They weren't smiling, they were just kinda, like,
looking a bit intense, and I thought,
"Wow, like, is this gonna be-- is this our end?
Like, is this a real-life horror movie?"
I have had those moments, so...
- Can I ask you, in those moments,
do you have good instincts?
Or are you deer in headlights in those circumstances?
- No, I feel like I have good instincts,
but then I'm, like, on overdrive
and, like, make sure that everyone's on high alert
and that we have, you know, someone posted
throughout the night watching to make sure, and, like,
I get the knife in my tent ready, and it's--
yeah, it's a bit crazy.
You know, a mama bear, yeah.
- Of course. No, absolutely.
I'm a proud Torontonian.
So how was shooting in Toronto?
- It was good, it was-- - Uh-oh.
Uh-oh, there's some hesitation.
- No, no, I mean, we loved Toronto.
I don't do well in the winter.
I don't know how you grew up there, but for me,
I mean, I come from Australia, so it's, like, super sunny.
I live in California. Winter for me was a lot.
- True story: as a kid,
I very often would sleep in, like, my winter jacket.
Yeah, like, 'cause I'm super--
These people here know it.
I keep this house here in L.A. minimum--minimum 80 degrees.
Minimum. - Really?
- Oh, for sure. I need warmth.
I need sauna at all times.
- I can relate to sleeping in the winter jacket
because I did that, too, in Toronto this time.
- Excellent, excellent.
So, Yvonne, you play Serena, of course,
on "Handmaid's Tale," but I wanna dive
into Serena's character a little bit,
because...she's a little crazy.
She's crazy. She's a little evil.
She's dark. She's a dark one.
Do people ever approach you in real life
and think you're that mean?
Of course we know you're acting,
but I just feel like you're so good at it.
- I was legitimately worried for a while,
walking the streets of Toronto in my off time,
that people would throw vegetables and fruit at me.
But people have been very nice.
If anything, they're a little cautious.
But I have always wondered if my fellow cast members,
especially, like, in the first season,
because we didn't really know each other.
I mean, I only really worked with a few people,
you know, so-- we have a huge ensemble,
and I do wonder that if we pass each other at work,
they're like...
You know, just thinking that
I'm like the real Serena in real life, which I'm not.
- Here, if anyone's watching, you have the proof right here.
She's not like Serena. Yvonne is not like Serena.
They're very different. You're very sweet.
Now, during season two of "The Handmaid's Tale,"
you were pregnant.
And you were a new mom in season three, correct?
- Yes, yes.
- So I'm sure you've gotten all of the "under his eye,
blessed be the fruit."
- Oh, yeah. - The Lord opened.
All of that terminology.
But considering the show's so closely tied
to motherhood and children,
you being a mom in real life
and being pregnant in real life,
did that impact how you played the character of Serena at all?
- I mean, honestly, I was just so terrified
that my evil Serena Joy vibes
were going to be infused into my unborn child
that I--you know, I'd say to myself,
"Whatever I do here is not
going to infiltrate what's happening down here."
'Cause, you know, you've seen the show.
It's like, it's a lot of yelling and screaming
and crying and super intense emotions.
And I just remember I wasn't telling anybody
for a little while--as you do, you wait a little bit--
but there was a scene where Joe,
who plays my, you know, husband, Commander Waterford,
he had to throw me against the wall violently
in this one scene,
and I was like, "Joe, I'm pregnant.
You can't do that today, so..."
- So that's how you told them?
- Yeah, yeah. - Wow.
So now your kid is 2 1/2, right?
- 2 1/2. - Congrats.
So tell me, I don't have any kids.
If don't know if this is a myth or not.
Tell me real talk: are the terrible twos
a real thing, or is that just a made-up thing?
- No, they're real.
We're very lucky.
He is, like-- he's such a good boy.
He's, like, super social and funny,
but he--like, in the mornings, you know,
he'll wake up and call out for us,
and my husband goes to get him.
And when I say, "Good morning,"
he'll just go, "No."
- [laughs]
- Whoever isn't the one to get him,
he's like, "No, thanks."
He'll actually say, "No, thanks."
I was pretty mad at him the other day
'cause he was--I mean, he was just, like, throwing--
everything was irritating for him.
He just wasn't eating,
he was doing this, he was doing that,
and it was, like, time to go potty
and I put him in the potty, and he was like,
"No, no, thank you. No, thank you. No, thank you."
And I was like, "Argh, just go potty."
And he knew I was aggravated.
And so he sits down finally, he's sitting on the potty,
and he looks at me, and he goes,
"Mama, you have such beautiful eyes."
Like, knew exactly how to disarm me,
how to, like, deflate my aggravation.
- Men, take notes in the room. Take notes, okay?
So today is a day I'm hype about,
everyone watching at home is hype about,
unless you're living under a rock.
Season four of "The Handmaid's Tale" premieres today.
What can you tell us about season four?
And then I'm going to ask you
some not-so-specific spoiler questions.
- I love season four. I've seen it.
I read it. They're-- But I've also seen it.
It's really exciting.
It's all, like, new ground
that you haven't really seen before.
It's characters facing
situations that they've never faced before,
expressing emotions that you've
never really seen them express before.
And at least for my character, I know there's been--
I don't know if you know, though--
there's been a bit of a spoiler alert.
- Well, that's what I was gonna ask you--is Serena pregnant?
- [whispering] Yes.
- [screams]
- [laughs] - Oh, my God!
I'm dead.
Okay, inter-- look at you.
You're like...
- [laughs]
- I did that. Yup.
But are you, like, confirming it right now?
- No, I'm confirming it.
The showrunner released the information officially, yeah.
- Good, so you're not gonna get fired for anything.
You're like, "I'm safe to talk about this information."
- I bloody hope not.
I'm, like, second-guessing myself.
No, I think it's official.
- Oh, that is so exciting.
I cannot wait to go home and watch.