How Josh Charles Found His Quiet Rage for ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’

[This story contains spoilers from season six, episode six of The Handmaid’s Tale, “Surprise.”]

There have been signs that High Commander Wharton isn’t the kind man he portends to be to Serena Joy in The Handmaid’s Tale.

The new season six character played by Josh Charles was introduced as the father-in-law to Nick (Max Minghella), a powerful high-ranking Gilead leader who arrives from Washington, D.C. to keep an eye on his wayward son-in-law, in protection of his daughter Rose (Carey Cox), who is pregnant with his grandchild.

But when he laid eyes on Serena Joy (Yvonne Strahovski), who has returned to help steer Commander Lawrence’s (Bradley Whitford) vision of New Bethlehem, Wharton softened. Wide-eyed and in love with a woman he has been holding a candle for ever since she was Mrs. Waterford, Wharton proposes to Serena in the sixth episode of the sixth and final season, “Surprise,” by pitching her a vision of Gilead that she has always wanted: one where he will give her a voice.

But another scene in “Surprise” reveals Wharton’s quiet brutality, when he verbally abuses and threatens Nick, scaring his High Commander son-in-law just enough so that the lover to Handmaid’s Tale heroine June (Elisabeth Moss) betrays June and her friends in an earth-shattering moment. Under the thumb of Wharton, Nick divulges June’s Mayday resistance plan to kill Commanders at brothel Jezebel’s. June is hiding in Serena’s closet with Nick when Wharton comes to Serena’s house to tell her the good fortune of Nick’s information. By the look on June’s face, things may never be the same between her and Nick.

Below, in conversation with The Hollywood Reporter, Charles talks about how he brought such a terrifying spin to Wharton and opens up about his own nerves around playing a High Commander in the final season of the Emmy-winning saga. “I’ll be honest with you. It’s not a call that I would probably normally want to do,” he says.

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I am excited to speak with you, because you are terrifying on this show!

You have even more to see coming.

I want to go back and ask how this role of playing a Gilead High Commander came to you. Did you audition? Did they seek you out?

I worked with Lizzie on the FX show The Vale. We had a really good time working together and so she offered me this role. She sent me a lovely email saying, “I want you to bring what you do to this role.” It was early on, they were still working on [season six], so she wanted to talk about it. I had some email exchanges with her, and I met with [co-showrunners] Eric [Tuchman] and Yahlin [Chang] and talked about the scripts and the overall arc of the character. I said: This is what I want to do with him. He’s a guy who, as they were describing him, sort of exudes power but with a velvet glove. I wanted a flame-thrower underneath that velvet glove. That was my idea behind the character. He is a true believer, clearly. He’s a Gilead true believer. But hopefully his brutality would be even more intense because of his kindness.

How much or how little of a fan were you of The Handmaid’s Tale when you came in?

I had not seen it, because I don’t watch anything. I don’t even watch my own stuff. I watch sports, some comedies and history shows. But my wife really loved the show and I knew of the show. So when Lizzie sent it to me, I binged the whole thing. As you can imagine, that’s an intense binge for a two-week period. I sat on my couch when the kids were asleep and watched as many episodes as I could each night. I was so struck by the show — not even by its timeliness, which is haunting, obviously — but with the writing, acting, cinematography. The whole scope of the show is so cinematic; the weather even plays a character. It was everything; the attention to detail. I thought, “This is something I would really like to be a be a part of.”

I’ll be honest with you. It’s not a call that I would probably normally want to do. I wouldn’t normally want to jump into a show in its final season, because that could be incredibly awkward and have a lot of landmines. But because of Lizzie, because of the quality of the show, because of the cast — I knew Bradley [Whitford] a little bit, and I just love all the actors in the show so much — and really, because of Lizzie, because I trust her, [I said yes]. And she was completely right. I was welcomed with open arms. It’s such an incredibly, not only talented, but just loving group of people: Max [Minghella], Yvonne [Strahovski], Ever [Carradine], Bradley and of course, Lizzie. As dark as the material is at times, I had an absolutely incredible time with this group. I was really happy to be a part of it and help finish telling this story, and bring it to its conclusion.

Gilead Commanders don’t usually exhibit any kindness. That’s what makes Wharton unique. He has a light and dark side. We saw hints of his darkness early on, and he reveals himself more this episode with Nick. How genuine is his lightness with Serena? Is he a tortured character who wants some good, or is the perceived lightness in service of his darkness?

It’s not that straight manipulative. I think it’s more that he wants to return Gilead back to the right of where it was. That was my feeling: out of his true beliefs is how he feels. So his love and his desire for Serena is for someone he’s carried a torch for as a widower. There’s a hole missing of a family. He’s very attached and close to and protective of his daughter Rose, and that’s why he enters the narrative this year: he comes to check on her. He’s a very good, loving father. But there’s this missing piece, which is this family that he desires.

So rather than the good hiding the bad, I look at it a little differently. I see it being more about who he is and what his values are. He shouldn’t be with Serena, right? But he’s drawn to her. It’s like an Achilles’ heel. He can’t help it. He needs this desperately. It’s the conflict of that push and pull. He should probably be with someone else who more aligns with his values, but he’s drawn to her and when you adore and are enthralled with someone like that, you do things probably against your better judgment or values. He doesn’t want to do this, but he can’t help it. That, to me, was really interesting.

You could call his proposal romantic. He tells Serena: I want you to read. I want you to write. I want you to have a voice. He pitches her this vision of what she wants. Is any of that truthful?

It’s that constant push and pull of following his true believer feelings about the world of Gilead. He’s also a man who really craves power This was my own personal feeling; I wouldn’t project this onto the writers, but when you think about his wants and desires, he’s a High Commander based in Washington, D.C. He’s at the top echelon of the Gileadean chain. I think his desire is to be a leader — to be the leader. When you put that in perspective, and he rekindles this torch that he’s had for Serena that he can’t extinguish, it’s about having those two simultaneously go together. He’s so enamored and enthralled with her that he’s doing things that he probably shouldn’t be doing.

My hope was that you would see a man that would be more complex than just being an evil guy who is hiding everything, because that seemed a little too easy. What was more interesting was the nuance of someone who is a very lonely man who is desiring a family; something he had that was taken from him when his wife died that he desperately wants again. It’s about that juxtaposition. Searching and desiring power aren’t always in sync, right? I felt it would be interesting to see a guy who’s incredibly powerful, but also very vulnerable and really nervous when he’s proposing to her.

What was it like working with Yvonne Strahovski as a scene partner for this Gileadean romance?

Like everyone in the show, Yvonne really embraced and welcomed me. She’s such a sweet person and lovely actor, and stunningly beautiful and very easy to fall in love with on screen. I’m really glad I took this job and had this experience. I’ve done a bunch of shows myself and you realize — these guys have been doing the show for probably about a decade. Because of the pandemic and then the strikes and Lizzie [having a baby], it was two years since season five [released]. These guys have been together for a really long time and that can be really intimidating to come into. I’ve been doing it a while, but I was nervous. You want to do a good job. I came in as prepared as I could and I just absolutely love this group. It’s a group of really interesting, warm and collaborative people, and that was cool to be a part of.

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The Handmaid’s Tale releases new season six episodes every Tuesday on Hulu. Follow along with THR’s final season coverage.