‘He’s been like my little convict brother, who I’ve had to counsel through our 30s together,’ Penn Badgley told USA TODAY about his ‘You’ character, Joe Goldberg.
Penn Badgley is ready to say goodbye to ‘You’ character, Joe Goldberg
After playing Joe Goldberg on “You” for the past 10 years, Penn Badgley reflects on the show’s impact.
Editor’s note: This story contains spoilers from the “You” Netflix series.
For Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley), life has come full circle, as one would imagine after killing almost two dozen people and locking up a dozen more in his infamous glass cage.
In the “epic fifth and final season” of Netflix’s thriller drama, “You,” Joe is back in New York to enjoy his happily ever after as society’s “Prince Charming,” until his “perfect life is threatened by the ghosts of his past and his own dark desires,” according to the streaming service.
The final chapter of Joe’s life picks up three years after he and Kate (Charlotte Ritchie) left London for New York City. Kate is now CEO of the Lockwood Corporation, while Joe is her loyal husband, “dubbed Prince Charming by the adoring public.”
While the two are “following through on their pact to help each other do good,” it is not long before Joe’s misadventures catch up with him.
As the curtain drops on “You,” here’s why the series won’t be returning for another season.
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Will ‘You’ be returning for another season?
No. After a successful five-season run, Joe Goldberg’s journey on “You,” which premiered in September 2018 (on Lifetime before it moved to Netflix), has come to an end.
Co-showrunner and executive producer Michael Foley told Netflix’s Tudum the producers knew Joe’s journey would end after five seasons and loved the “idea of things coming full circle” for him.
“We always said that we would stop after five and [that], in a perfect world, we would bring Joe back home to New York,” Foley told Tudum. “We loved the idea of things coming full circle for him. We’re excited by the fact that Joe came home as such a different person than we saw in Season 1. At the core of our final story for Joe is this dichotomy of the old and the new.”
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Penn Badgley says he’s done with Joe
Badgley, meanwhile, in an exclusive interview with USA TODAY’s Anika Reed, said he is done with Joe.
“I’m glad we’re putting him to bed,” the actor said. “I’ve been with (Joe) my entire 30s, actually, I was 30 years old when I signed on to do this. I’m going to be 39 later this year.”
“He’s been like my little convict brother, who I’ve had to counsel through our 30s together,” Badgley added. “And in that way, he’s kind of taught me to be a better man. He’s failing miserably, but I’ve had to reflect on all the things I share with him, even if they’re not that escalated or that magnified.”
Badgley said he’s glad the series is coming to an end at this point.
“The world is a different place now than it was when (‘You’) started,” Badgley said. “I said, I think in the first season, ‘How far are we willing to go to forgive an evil man?’ … It feels like the stakes in the world are a little bit different. I’m glad that this show is closing rather than starting.”
In a separate interview with the Los Angeles Times, Badgley said he’s happy with the way things end for his character.
“The last 20 minutes (of the season) feel good to me,” Badgley told the LA Times. “Here’s the main reason: because, by the end, we’ve deconstructed him and made him less interesting. It’s like, do you want more of this man? Do you really want more? I’m sure there’s a way we can cook something up, but do you really?”
“In those last moments, he’s uninteresting,” the actor added. “He’s like a lizard. He has nothing to offer. At that point, I was just like, ‘I can’t do this man anymore.’”
How many people did Joe kill in ‘You’?
Joe killed a total of 23 people over five seasons of “You,” according to Netflix, including:
- His mom’s boyfriend
- Benji
- Elijah
- Peach
- Ron
- Beck
- Jasper
- Henderson
- Ryan
- Love
- Malcolm
- Simon
- Vic
- Gemma
- Rhys
- Tom Lockwood
- Tom’s bodyguard
- Eddie
- Uncle Bob
- Reagan
- Dane
- Clayton
- A police officer
The killer, meanwhile, imprisoned 14 people in his cubic cage, of which only 9 survived it.
‘You’ Season 5 cast
While “You” is not returning for another season, here’s who was a part of Season 5’s cast:
- Penn Badgley as Joe Goldberg
- Charlotte Ritchie as Kate Lockwood
- Madeline Brewer as Bronte
- Griffin Matthews as Teddy Lockwood
- Anna Camp as Raegan and Maddie Lockwood
- Natasha Behnam as Dominique
- b as Phoenix
- Pete Ploszek as Harrison
- Tom Francis as Clayton
- Nava Mau as Detective Marquez
How to watch ‘You’ Season 5
All five seasons of “You” are available to stream on Netflix.
Saman Shafiq is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected] and follow her on X and Instagram @saman_shafiq7.
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