Serena Chen-Williams

Serena Chen-Williams (also Galaxy) is a fictional character from the Channel 4 British soap opera, Hollyoaks, played by Emma Lau. She originally appeared in a single episode originally broadcast on 22 September 2021 as a love interest for established character Sid Sumner (Billy Price). Lau later returned to the soap and began reappearing from December 2021 as part of a new family unit in Hollyoaks, consisting of Serena, her adoptive stepsister Lizzie Chen-Williams (Lily Best), Serena's step-uncle Ethan Williams (Matthew James-Bailey) and his girlfriend, Maya Harkwell (Ky Discala), Serena's mother Honour Chen-Williams (Vera Chok), Serena's stepfather Dave (Dominic Power), Honour and Dave's son Mason (Frank Kauer) and Dave's son Sam (Matthew McGivern). The family were the first East Asian family to appear in a British soap opera, which Lau was passionate about. Serena has been characterised as being a competitive athlete with an alter ego named "Galaxy", and Lau liked portraying both sides of the character. The actress initially was unaware of the alter-ego and believed she had been given the wrong script when she saw that her first scene was under the name "Galaxy". Lau also characterised Serena as being hardworking and emotional, which the actress related to.

Upon the family's move to the village, Serena struggles for her feelings towards Sid as he is now dating Lizzie, Serena's best friend and stepsister. Serena also faces Sinophobia linked to the COVID-19 pandemic from Becky Quentin (Katie McGlynn), which Lau believed was an important storyline that the soap was representing. Serena also begins a romance with Imran Maalik (Ijaz Rana), which ends due to Imran's eating disorder; Lau believed that Serena was better suited to Imran rather than Sid. Serena's other storylines include finding out that Maxine Minniver (Nikki Sanderson) is Dave's daughter, accidentally taking amphetamines, being forced to give up her place at the Commonwealth Games after falling from a café roof and being operated on by the unqualified doctor Ali Shahzad (Raji James), being threatened and taken hostage by incel Eric Foster (Angus Castle-Doughty) and finding out that Mason has been radicalised by Eric and carried out misogynistic actions himself. Serena's final storyline sees her disagree with her family on how to deal with Mason's actions and she subsequently leaves the household, leading to Serena's exit from the soap, which aired on 12 January 2023. Lau called her stint on the soap an honour and felt lucky with Serena's portrayal. Lau briefly reappeared as Serena in the episode originally airing on 24 January 2023. Serena and her family were initially popular with viewers. Digital Spy's Daniel Kilkelly praised Serena's initial guest appearance, but believed that Serena lacked screentime once she became a regular.