The Handmaid’s Tale season 5: Father of Serena Joy’s baby confirmed (2024)

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The Handmaid’s Tale season 5: Father of Serena Joy’s baby confirmed? ›

Although Fred wasn't particularly faithful in their marriage, Serena has been, which means that there's little to no doubt that Fred is the father of Serena's baby.

Noah Waterford is a character in The Handmaid's Tale. He is the son of Serena Waterford and Fred Waterford.

After having her son, Noah, with a major assist from June, she is sent to an immigration detention center and her child is put into the Wheelers' care. It's not hard to imagine that the Wheelers will eventually try to take full custody of Noah, especially since they keep implying Serena is not a fit mother.

Typically, he acts as a cool, collected presence with good intentions. Not only does he excel at keeping his calculated movements close to his chest, but he never gives the impression that he is deeply burdened by his morally ambiguous choices, even when he is delivering bad news or fraternizing with the enemy.

In a recent interview, Elisabeth Moss explained why June helped Serena deliver her son, Noah, and it all came down to one thing: Necessity. Though the women are in a battle with one another, they quickly realize they have a much bigger enemy to contend with in Gilead.

For those speculating that Tuello is the father of Serena Joy's baby.... Bruce Miller has confirmed before that Fred is the father: ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Let's start with the scene between Mark Tuello and Serena Joy.

Although Serena initially had a gun on June, forcing her to drive after she fled the Wheelers' home, when she goes into labor, June opts to help her first through the physical pain and then the emotional pain when Serena tells June to take the baby because she has no future.

The final nail in the proverbial coffin is the vitamins Commander Wheeler gives to Serena. While he gives the vitamins to her under the guise of care for her baby's health, Wheeler's investment in the child makes it clear that he and Gilead are tricking Serena Joy in an attempt to steal her baby.

Hannah Bankole (portrayed by Jordana Blake) is June and Luke's daughter. She is later renamed Agnes.

At some point after this, likely during the rise of the Republic of Gilead, Serena married the Commander.

Will Serena become a handmaid? ›

“It's so unexpected the way they crafted Serena becoming a handmaid without her actually becoming a handmaid,” Strahovski told The Hollywood Reporter ahead of the episode about the twist — and major moment of payoff — of Serena being stripped of everything and having nowhere to turn but to June.

"On social media, you press the wrong button and 30 minutes later I missed four calls and I'm like, 'That's weird'," she said. As reported by BBC Sport, Williams found out she was pregnant just a couple of days before the Australian Open started.

“Gender traitor” is the slur used for hom*osexuals in Gilead, but women like Serena Joy and Aunt Lydia are gender traitors in the most literal sense.

Nick Is Torn Between His Loyalty to June and Rose

His loyalty to June may be more tenuous in the future than it is now. He appears to love his wife, Rose, and it may not be the same passionate love that he has for June, but he does care for her and has loyalty to her as a friend and the mother of his child.

At this point in The Testaments, Aunt Lydia has turned against Gilead and covertly feeds information to Hannah (known by her Gileadean name Agnes). Eventually, Hannah escapes Gilead with this information and is instrumental in bringing down the regime.

Williams, 40, gave birth to her daughter, Olympia, with husband Alexis Ohanian, in September 2017, in an emergency cesarean section.

And so, she does. Serena returns to the Wheeler house, apologizes and acknowledges her place. She is allowed to nurse her baby, but is forced to admit she is unfit and gives up all other mothering duties.

But June's all set with the too little, too late apology. She instead hits Serena with some hard truths: "This isn't Gilead and I'm not you," she says before telling her she will save her life and keep her and Noah together. "You're his mother and he belongs with you – that is God's will."

Congratulations are in order for Serena Williams. The tennis superstar and her husband, Alexis Ohanian, revealed that they are expecting their second child together while attending the 2023 Met Gala on May 1.

Now, in episode 7, "No Man's Land," Serena finds herself turning to June (Elisabeth Moss) for help as she gives birth to her son, Noah, as the series flashes back to their early days in Gilead, when June was still a handmaiden named Offred and the two were learning the Republic's bizarre birthing ritual.

Does Serena's baby survive? ›

She wasn't going to allow this newborn to potentially die if something goes wrong. In the end, the baby is born… alive. He looks good, and Serena chooses the name Noah.

And at the center of the tug-of-war between them is Hannah. Always Hannah. “I'm sorry I don't have her,” June tells her husband, Luke (O-T fa*gbenle), when the couple is finally reunited after her rescue in Season 4.

The Handmaid's Tale season 4 finale saw June Osborne kill Fred Waterford, and in doing so she effectively chose Nick Blaine over Luke Bankole. Warning: Contains SPOILERS for The Handmaid's Tale season 4, episode 10, "The Wilderness."

“The Handmaid's Tale” stayed focused on its central dystopia until Season 4, when June (Elisabeth Moss) escaped to Canada, and even then she couldn't escape Gilead. June returned multiple times, including in Season 5 to rescue her daughter Hannah (Jordana Blake) from a life of subservience to men.

Baby Noah Will Be Adopted By One Of June's Friends

But plenty of former handmaids in June's circle lost their children and would likely jump at the chance of taking one from a former wife like Serena Joy.

This article contains spoilers.

There's a new Serena Joy Waterford in the fifth season of Hulu's The Handmaid's Tale. Not only has she been edged out of her protected position as the Wife of a powerful Commander, but as a single pregnant woman, she soon became a Handmaid.

Season 5, Episode 2: “Ballet”

After that, she tells Luke about sending the finger to Serena and he tells her she needs to stop obsessing over Serena so that she can be there for her family. Serena makes her grand return to Gilead.

2) Moira had a baby before Gilead.

Since it was the former, she became a Handmaid even though she's also a “gender traitor.” So, several years ago, Moira agreed to be a surrogate for a British couple in exchange for $250,000. (FYI: the real-world compensation is substantially lower, not that I Googled it.)

After Janine becomes a Handmaid, she takes the name Ofwarren. She has a baby, which makes her the envy of all the other Handmaids in the area, but the baby later turns out to be deformed—an “Unbaby”—and there are rumors that her doctor fathered the child.

June's second daughter in the show is a baby she has with Nick. And what are these daughters called? Agnes and Nicole.

Who is Nick Blaine's wife? ›

Eden Blaine, née Spencer, is a recurring character in season 2 of The Handmaid's Tale, when she is married off to Nick Blaine.

She doesn't care how high the body count goes, so long as people know they can't treat her like something less valuable or worthy just because she's a woman. Importantly, Serena is killed by Jacob at the very end.

Despite seeming to be a true believer at the start of the story (at least in June's eyes, indicating that she might not always be a reliable narrator), Lydia is actually a part of Mayday, working against Gilead in the long game.

[1]Rose Blaine, nee Wharton, is a character in The Handmaid's Tale. She is the Wife of Commander Nick Blaine and a daughter of High Commander Wharton.

Serena Helped Create Gilead

It is important to note that Serena did not come up with the handmaid system itself or any other of Gilead's social stratifications, merely the idea that if women shifted their priority to making a home rather than working, as a solution to the declining birth rates in America.

This scene was particularly painful as viewers watched June pretend she played no part in the death and instead spoke of her guilt for not checking on her. During their conversation, it seems like Lawrence genuinely does not know the role June had in the death.

Serena Williams Was 2 Months Pregnant When She Won the Australian Open.

Moreover, he appeared to have an obsession with June, regularly breaking the rules and sending her gifts. In an interview with assignment x, the Fred star opened up about Fred and June's relationship, revealing why how his character named to be so infatuated by June.

There have been theories that Serena could have been having an affair with Mark. They have been seen together multiple times in the past couple of series and he is now someone who she speaks to on a regular basis. However, there has been no indication that the pair have actually been sleeping together.

Here, Offred describes the irony of Serena Joy's clear bitterness from living in a world that she helped create. Women are not allowed to read or write, or have any power, so Serena Joy can do nothing but stay at home as she once preached that all women should do.

Did Serena get pregnant by Fred? ›

For Serena to have been surprised by the news means she was probably around 12-16 weeks pregnant when she found out in season 4. Although Fred wasn't particularly faithful in their marriage, Serena has been, which means that there's little to no doubt that Fred is the father of Serena's baby.

That scene is one example of why having a younger Serena can pay off. The Serena Joy from the books, in pain with arthritis and using a cane, wouldn't have been able to dive to the floor and scream in Offred's face. "I think that's the vibrancy that you get from having a younger [Serena]," Miller said.

Rose confronts Nick about his feelings for June, and he admits he cannot let go of her, and Rose leaves him. “I love where we ended that.

He loves her so much, but he also lets her go in that moment because he loves her so much. He wants her to be happy and he'll sacrifice his own happiness for that. But before leaving, Nick has to let her know that; he has to makes sure that June knows he loves her.

Following the visit, he's escorted back to the border by Tuello, who wants him to sign a contract. Nick has finally agreed to work with the U.S. government in exchange for them keeping June safe going forward.

Handmaid's Tale: Nick Dies Saving Hannah From Gilead - Theory Explained - IMDb.

However, having been separated from June for too long in Gilead's indoctrination system, Hannah no longer recognizes June and runs to the corner of the cage when she approaches. Seeing her daughter brainwashed into fearing her more than Gilead crushes June, and she reveals the location of her fellow Handmaids.

But what's the cause? In The Handmaid's Tale, infertility is linked to another one of Gilead's prominent problems: pollution. As revealed in the season 1 episode "A Woman's Place," inorganic farming and radioactivity are to blame for declining fertility.

Serena Williams and her husband, Alexis Ohanian, just announced that the tennis champ is expecting her second baby. At the 2023 Met Gala on May 1, Williams stopped for a chat with reporters on the red carpet.

"I went from a C-section to a second pulmonary embolism to a grand slam final," she wrote. "I played while breastfeeding. I played through postpartum depression. But I didn't get there.

When did Serena get pregnant? ›

Yet in The Handmaid's Tale season 4, episode 2, "Nightshade," Serena gets some shocking news: blood tests carried out in Canada show that she's pregnant, kick-starting the Serena's baby Handmaid's Tale plot arc.

Noah Waterford is a character in The Handmaid's Tale. He is the son of Serena Waterford and Fred Waterford.

The birth scene (in fact, the entire seventh episode of The Handmaid's Tale) was full of surprises and an interesting twist: Serena, for whom June was formerly forced to be a Handmaid, gives birth and asks June to take her baby.

Serena's circ*mstances certainly changed. After having her son, Noah, with a major assist from June, she is sent to an immigration detention center and her child is put into the Wheelers' care.

Season 5 Explains That June's Motivations Were Very Simple

In the end, the action of June sending Fred's finger to Serena has to do with the fact that she simply wanted to show her what she's capable of.

Things go from bad to worse when she miscarries and almost dies as a result. She won't be able to have any more children, either. After Pemberton and Galloway get rid of the doc who caused Serena's miscarriage (the way they see it), things go back to normal.

Just a month after their engagement, Serena found out she was pregnant. After playing poorly during her first match of the year, the tennis star physically felt different, prompting her friend to suggest taking a pregnancy test. She took the test and sure enough, it read positive.

The decision to name baby Nicole is ironic on Serena's part, because Nick (Max Minghella) is the baby's real father, not her husband Fred's (Joseph Fiennes). Nicole sounds similar to Nick, with both names stemming from the name Nicholas, so essentially Serena Joy has named the baby after her real father.

(For what it's worth, Moss weighs in on why June told Emily to refer to Holly as Nicole, the name Serena gave the baby: "It's a show of love for Serena and a thank you for what Serena did in letting June get her out. It's June's baby, but it's June's way of acknowledging Serena's true love for that child.")

At this point in The Testaments, Aunt Lydia has turned against Gilead and covertly feeds information to Hannah (known by her Gileadean name Agnes). Eventually, Hannah escapes Gilead with this information and is instrumental in bringing down the regime.

Do Nick and June have a child? ›

Nichole Holly Osborne, temporarily named Nichole Waterford, is the biological baby daughter of Nick Blaine and June Osborne. She was initially named Holly by her mother when giving birth (after her maternal grandmother) and renamed Nichole by the Waterfords. June later approved the latter name.

Nick Is Torn Between His Loyalty to June and Rose

He appears to love his wife, Rose, and it may not be the same passionate love that he has for June, but he does care for her and has loyalty to her as a friend and the mother of his child.

At the safe house, Serena-sympathizer Mark Tuello tells her exactly what happened to Fred, including the fact that his ring finger had been cut off and mailed to her. As gross as that is, it makes it very clear to Serena that June, not Gilead, is responsible for his murder. Emily has gone back to Gilead.

She's in love with Nick." This underlines June's thinking in The Handmaid's Tale season 4 finale: while Luke can offer her so many great things like a safe, happy family life, Moss herself admits that June belongs with Nick.

Throughout the season, each wanted to kill the other and even had opportunities to do so. Instead, they helped each other. June even helped Serena deliver her baby.

Yet in The Handmaid's Tale season 4, episode 2, "Nightshade," Serena gets some shocking news: blood tests carried out in Canada show that she's pregnant, kick-starting the Serena's baby Handmaid's Tale plot arc.

June Osborne, with the help of some other former Handmaids, kills Commander Waterford in The Handmaid's Tale in a shocking season 4 moment. The conflict between June and Fred Waterford had been building to a head, culminating in season 4 when for the first time, June had the power to seek justice.

About Serena's baby, there's a palpable tension between Serena and Mark Tuello (Sam Jaeger) and some fans have wondered if the baby was Fred's or Tuello's. "Serena has not slept with Mark Tuello as of yet. I wouldn't have done that out of respect for her character and the audience,” answers Miller.

June first sees the extent of this when she is taken by a handmaid into a private room in the Winslow family house. At first she can't understand why the Handmaid is not replying to her before she sees that her mouth has been forced shut with metal rings.

Offred relaxes as they drive away. Serena tells Fred that Nick is the father of the baby.

Does June end up with Nick or Luke? ›

The Handmaid's Tale season 4 finale saw June Osborne kill Fred Waterford, and in doing so she effectively chose Nick Blaine over Luke Bankole.

However, having been separated from June for too long in Gilead's indoctrination system, Hannah no longer recognizes June and runs to the corner of the cage when she approaches. Seeing her daughter brainwashed into fearing her more than Gilead crushes June, and she reveals the location of her fellow Handmaids.

Nick's Deal With Mark Tuello

On the subject of Eyes… the finale saw Nick Blaine sign a secret contract to become a US government spy in Gilead.