Rather than beginning on a quiet note, the closing chapter of The Regime reached its loudest and most turbulent point, packed with violence and emotional conflict. For Kate Winslet, this particular episode stood out as the most fun one to film.
After rebels take over her palace, Elena Vernham, the unpredictable ruler played by Winslet, flees with her fierce bodyguard and lover Herbert Zubak, portrayed by Matthias Schoenaerts. At some point, they find themselves hitching a ride with Tomas, a drunken old man (played by Karl Markovics).
Kate Winslet trades royal power for backseat chaos and freezing laughter (Photo: The Regime/Warner Bros. Discovery)He recklessly drives through the night while blasting Christmas songs from his speakers. According to Winslet, the process of filming these scenes came with plenty of laughter. “There are many, many outtakes, I’m ashamed to say, of Kate and Mattias doing quite a lot of giggling, especially in Episode 6,” she admits.
“Oh my God, everything in the back of the car. When I’m going, ‘Tomas, my love,’ and being obsessed with this idea of trying to find a phone, that was all middle of the night, cold in England, cramped as all hell, and just making stuff up. Honestly, that’s what the script gave us: the scope to experiment and play.”
Who Dies in the Final Episode of HBO’s The Regime?
After Tomas offers them shelter, Elena and Herbert soon discover his true intention is to betray them. On reaching his home, Tomas traps them in his basement, planning to hand them over to rebel forces in exchange for a reward.
Elena manages to survive after officials from her government intervene, offering her the chance to reclaim her leadership—provided she accepts major changes in how she governs. One of the hardest conditions she must face is leaving behind Herbert and going back to her husband, Nicholas (Guillaume Gallienne).
Before parting ways, Elena and Herbert share an intense final evening. The episode shows a brief image that hints Herbert has been killed by gunshot. In the series’ last scene, Elena is once again seated on her throne, and close by lies Herbert’s body enclosed in a glass coffin—just like how her terrifying father was introduced in the very first episode.
According to the series’ creator Will Tracy (known for Succession), the bond between Elena and Herbert reflects a mix of dysfunction and old-fashioned romance. “It’s opposites attract, but it’s also two people who, at least for glimmers of the show, are helping each other become the best versions of themselves,” he explains.
“In some ways, it’s the larger geopolitical story of the show that prevents them from becoming an actualized, healthy partnership. She’s broken in many ways, but one of them is her fame power, and isolation. It’s poisoned her mind, and by turn, she poisons this system of government that Zubak is a product of.
He’s been abused by the system she created, so it’s never going to work.”
Agnes’ Death Came as a Bigger Shock Than Herbert’s
Even though Herbert’s death hurts, what struck viewers even harder was the loss of Agnes (Andrea Riseborough). During the palace raid at the end of Episode 5, rebels shoot and kill her.
Agnes had always seemed to represent those watching from the outside—torn between walking away from Elena’s brutal leadership and staying back to protect her son. Riseborough describes Agnes as both powerful and deeply wounded. “She is consumed with the mission to keep her son alive.
She’s in a situation where she’s morally compromised, but she’s also complicit. She’s part of this enormous machine she hasn’t left.” The character reflects the struggles of everyday people trying to survive under a broken system while feeling the weight of their choices.
The Final Song Elena Hears in The Regime Finale
As the series ends, Elena places flowers on Herbert’s coffin while the song “If You Leave Me Now” by Chicago plays, leading into the credits. This musical moment ties back to the very first episode, where Elena sang the same tune awkwardly during a formal dinner event.
A wild ride with Christmas music and betrayal under the stars (Photo: The Regime/Warner Bros. Discovery)Although the country in the show is a fictional European nation, creator Will Tracy deliberately filled the story with familiar bits of American pop culture. There’s even a scene where Elena and her husband watch an episode of Friends with deadpan seriousness, giving the moment an odd yet humorous twist.
Tracy reflects on this cultural blend. “I was interested in this idea that this person who’s in the midst of a fervid, anti-American rhetorical campaign might go home at the end of the day and watch the epitome of the mainstream American sitcom,” he says. “There’s some truth to that.
I mean, even when they found Osama bin Laden holed up in that compound, he had American movies he had downloaded on his computer.”
Why Elena Felt So Different from the Typical TV Character
When it comes to Elena, there’s a reason she doesn’t quite resemble other political characters on television. Her character was first written as a man, but Tracy made the choice to switch the gender during development, as a way to challenge himself and try a new direction for the role.
“We usually see this kind of strongman, brutalist interpretation of what a dictator is, especially in American fiction,” Tracy says.
“I just thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be interesting if it was someone who used that maternal warmth and emotional accessibility as not only a weapon but a marketing tool?’ She uses those optics to her advantage and gets away with some very bad behavior. Until she doesn’t.
