User:Herz123/Serena Chen-Williams

Serena Chen-Williams, played by Emma Lau, made her first appearance on 23 September 2021. She was introduced to the series as a woman under the alias of Galaxy who meets Sid Sumner (Billy Price) on a night out and ends up in possession of his prosthetic leg. She arranges to meet him the following day, where Sid finds himself attracted to her. The pair kiss before she leaves. Lau was initially contracted on Hollyoaks as a guest star, but in November 2021, it was confirmed that she had been contracted as a series regular. Then in December 2021, she was revealed to be a member of the Chen-Williams, a new family on Hollyoaks and the first East Asian family on a soap opera. Upon her casting announcement, Serena was described as an aspiring olympian who has always been driven and ambitious to succeed in her athletic ventures, but she is now wanting to rebel due to being "torn between living a normal teenage life and focusing on athleticism". Lau knew that she was auditioning for the role of Serena, an athlete, and was surprised to find out that her first scenes as Galaxy involved her stating that she is a singer. However, the producers eventually told her that this was an alter ego that Serena uses to feel confident. An official Hollyoaks video highlighting the Chen-Williams family named Serena "The girl who loves to party".

Casting and characterisation
Her first connection in the village is shown to be her step-sister, Lizzie (Lily Best), who she discovers has been dating Sid. Best, who portrays Lizzie, explained that Lizzie is unaware of their romantic history and that discovering it will "hit Lizzie like a ton of bricks" due to her close relationship with Serena. However, Best felt that if Serena wanted to continue a romantic relationship with Sid, her own character would support it. Lau revealed that Serena does still like Sid romantically and that despite trying to suppress them, it does not work. She explained: "It's difficult, because Lizzie really likes Sid. Lizzie isn't just Serena's sister, she's her best friend. So Serena has tried to close that door because it can't happen. Serena has tried to shut down her feelings, but maybe that's not the best thing to do. Suppressing your feelings is never a wise thing to do."

Another storyline then sees her learn that Dave is the father of Maxine Minniver (Nikki Sanderson). Lau explained that Serena is "a very emotional person" and that she "sees things as very black and white – either something is right or something is wrong". Her personality leads her to initially see Dave bonding with Maxine as a betrayal, especially after she learns that Dave has lied to her for years.

Sinophobia and Lunar New Year
Scenes see Becky Quentin (Katie McGlynn) make sinophobic comments to Serena, which Lau appreciated Hollyoaks for covering. She said that due to sinophobic comments being rampant during the COVID-19 pandemic, it was "a really important issue" for the soap to address. Lau explained that the comments hurt Serena badly, especially due to having experienced racism and xenophobia frequently. She added that the comments and drama with Sid combined could threaten to ruin her enjoyment of Chinese New Year.