Will Yvonne Strahovski get the awards recognition she has long deserved for ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Season 5?
Despite turning in a tremendous performance as Serena Joy Waterford on Hulu’s “The Handmaid’s Tale,” Yvonne Strahovski has yet to be blessed with the recognition she deserves for her work on the show. She’s received individual nominations from every major awards group sans the Screen Actors Guild Awards — two from the Emmys (2018, 2021), one from the Golden Globes (2019) and one from the Critics Choice Awards (2019) — though she’s come up empty-handed at every turn. But that could (and should) finally change at the upcoming winter awards for “The Handmaid’s Tale” Season 5.
The 10-episode fifth season premiered with two episodes on September 14 and airs through November 9. It picks up right after Commander Fred Waterford (Joseph Fiennes) is brutally murdered by June (Elisabeth Moss) and other former handmaids, and sees Serena — who is at first still in a detention facility in Canada — learn of her husband’s untimely death. Grief-stricken, angry and fearful, the pregnant widow begins to wage psychological warfare against June in an act of retaliation for Fred’s murder, while also attempting to raise her profile in Toronto as Gilead’s influence slowly creeps into Canada.
SEE ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Season 5 trailer: June needs Serena to know she killed Fred
At the Globes, Strahovski’s biggest asset is that the newly rehabilitated Hollywood Foreign Press Association has split up each of its catch-all supporting acting categories on the TV side into two separate categories — one that recognizes supporting turns from drama and comedy series; the other from limited series and TV movies — ahead of its 80th ceremony. This change significantly reduces the competition for the Australian actress, who no longer has to duke it out with, for instance, the stacked cast of “The White Lotus: Sicily,” including recent Emmy champ Jennifer Coolidge, for the nomination.
While it would be uncharacteristic of the HFPA to go back to Strahovski after last shortlisting her for Season 2, it wouldn’t be the first time they returned to the well when no one really expected it. Just last year, they surprisingly included her co-star Moss in the Best TV Drama Actress lineup for “The Handmaid’s Tale” Season 4 after dropping her from it for Season 3.
The most likely reason this happened is perhaps the same one Strahovski can defy the odds and make her own comeback this year — which is that members of the HFPA are, believe it or not, still watching and paying attention to the show. Whereas Season 4 was basically an extended awards clip for Moss, Season 5 has been one for Strahovski, who gets to navigate through every possible emotion as Serena finds herself in the most precarious position in which she’s ever been.
Though Moss ended up losing the Golden Globe last year despite contending for career-defining work, it’s worth noting that she was already a two-time champ at that point, for “Top of the Lake” (2014) and “Handmaid’s” (2018), and probably not a top priority for members of the HFPA, who awarded the under-recognized Michaela Jaé Rodriguez of “Pose” instead. Strahovski, on the other hand, is still waiting to cash in her IOU and might therefore be a more enticing candidate for voters if nominated.
At the Critics Choice and SAG Awards, Strahovski might have a bit more of an uphill climb. That’s because Critics Choice shut out “Handmaid’s” completely for both Seasons 3 and 4, despite the latter being hailed as a return to form, and the guild combines lead and supporting performances into one category, so that Moss — the show’s capital L lead — is the only female cast member to have ever received a solo nom. (Strahovski has been nominated four times as part of the drama’s ensemble.) So, the real test for the actor at both awards is whether she can secure the respective nomination. If she does, in spite of the hurdles she faces, it would only speak to how much passion there is for her work in Season 5 — passion that could very well carry her across the finish line at last.
PREDICT the 2023 Golden Globe and SAG Awards nominees
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