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The Handmaid’s Tale Season 6 is here, and fans are revisiting key plotlines that continue to stir debate among them: the identity of the father of Serena Joy’s baby. Introduced as a significant turning point in season 4, Serena’s surprise pregnancy came as a shock not only to viewers but also within the world of the show itself.
Since both Serena and Fred Waterford had long been presumed infertile, the pregnancy ignited rumors about where it came from, especially in light of their growing estranged relationship.
Yet based on what went on during the series and some remarks from the characters, it seems that there is an unmistakable explanation. Although fans have speculated on other possible explanations, including that the father could be a different man or that assisted conception is involved, the show itself gives a good explanation that Fred Waterford is indeed Serena's baby's biological father.
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The conception appears to be linked to a fleeting moment of intimacy between Serena and Fred in The Handmaid's Tale season 3, episode 11, titled Liars, when the estranged pair momentarily make up on a journey outside Gilead.
Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers for The Handmaid's Tale. Reader discretion is advised.
Exploring in detail about the father of Serena's baby in The Handmaid's Tale
Despite the tension and estrangement in their marriage, the show strongly implies that Fred Waterford is the father of Serena's baby. While staying at a secluded bed and breakfast, Fred and Serena had a night together, depicted as emotionally intense, vulnerable, and key in the timeline of the show.
The couple, over the course of the episode, imagines what their life could have been if Gilead had never been established. Serena brings Fred home to bed that night, breaking many of the oppressive regime's laws, including the ban on women driving, which Serena had also done earlier in the day.
It is the most likely point of conception, based on the timeline of the discovery of Serena's pregnancy in season 4. She finds out she is pregnant in episode 2 (Nightshade) through the Canadian authorities. According to normal development during pregnancy, she would have been around 12 to 16 weeks pregnant at the time, putting the conception directly at the tail end of season 3.
Although both are believed to be incapable of having children before Serena because of an injury before the construction of Gilead and Fred because of continual unsuccessful attempts using handmaid- the series never ultimately confirms either condition, leaving open the possibility of the pregnancy remaining within realistic constraints.
What happened to Serena and her baby in The Handmaid's Tale?
Serena's son, Noah, is born during a time of turmoil in her narrative. Season 5 traces Serena's rocky path from widow to fugitive to mother. Following Fred's death at the end of season 4, Serena finds herself more and more alone in Canada, where she becomes a focus of Gilead's reach outside of the country.
As a cover for diplomatic purposes, she is harbored by Gilead sympathizers, the Wheelers, and feels the suffocating weight of her ideology used against her.
During an explosive sequence of events in Season 5 of The Handmaid's Tale, Serena flees with her baby following a gunshot she fires into the bodyguard trying to subdue her and gains surprising assistance from June Osborne, her old foe.
Both women, brought together through similar trauma and messy history, are brought together temporarily when June births Serena's infant in a dusty abandoned barn. It is a moment of shared strength, which rarely happens among them.
After the birth, Serena is arrested by Canadian authorities and temporarily parted from Noah, who is left in the care of the Wheelers. Refusing to lose her child, Serena consents to go back to the Wheelers' house to continue to nurse him. But she becomes resentful and finally escapes again with Noah.
Her flight takes her onto a train to Vancouver, which, in a twist of fate, also contains June and her daughter, Nichole.
This coming together of storylines at the season 5 close is likely to pave the way for season 6. Now that Serena and June are cooped up again, this time as fugitives, the stakes in terms of emotion and story are higher than ever before.
Interested viewers can watch The Handmaid's Tale Season 6 on Hulu.
