Praise be, loyal 'Handmaid's Tale' fans: Propulsive final season promises a satisfying catharsis

Not long ago Yvonne Strahovski, who plays beautiful, ruthless, deeply complicated Serena on "The Handmaid's Tale," was forced to watch early scenes of her character's cruelty.

- (Associated Press)

Of course, Serena was being cruel to long-suffering heroine June (Elisabeth Moss). It wasn't a nice experience to relive.

"I was dying. I wanted to vomit! It was horrible," Strahovski said in an interview, of footage played at a panel event. "To go back and look at that was insanely jarring."

To which longtime "Handmaid's" fans would likely reply: Tell us about it, Serena! We've gone through hell and back ourselves, for 56 episodes.

Rapes. Mass hangings. Shootings. Torture. Kids torn from mothers, tongues from mouths. And more. The searing Hulu drama about a totalitarian state that treats women as property, based on the Margaret Atwood novel, may have been brilliant. But the brilliance came from abject darkness.

So, praise be, loyal fans: Creators of the show felt your pain. They want you to know that this, the sixth and final season, will be different.

It will still be Gilead, to be sure. As Bradley Whitford's ever-quotable Commander Lawrence would say: "Gilead's gonna Gilead." But it will be faster-paced, and more satisfying. There will be catharsis and redemption—rewards for all that fan loyalty.

There may even be... levity?

Yes. Don't take it from us (though we've previewed the first eight episodes). Take it from June herself.

Moss, who not only stars but directs four episodes this season, says it was around season four or five when creators realized they wanted to move away "from too much in-your-face darkness."

Of course, the show's hardly turned into a sitcom.

"We wouldn't be 'The Handmaid's Tale' if we didn't have those dark moments," she says. "It would be dishonest." But, she says, "We did want to bring in more lightness and levity."

Helpful in that regard: Whitford's whipsmart characterization of Commander Lawrence, who tosses off memorable one-liners like "Serena, are you suffering from an irony deficiency?"