Penn Badgely Will Escape Joe Goldberg’s Cage as Netflix Renews ‘You’ For Final Season

Larisha Paul
·3 min read
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You_S4_E9_00_03_29_01_R-1 - Credit: Courtesy of Netflix
You_S4_E9_00_03_29_01_R-1 - Credit: Courtesy of Netflix

Goodbyes are bittersweet, but if Joe Goldberg overstays his welcome he might start killing people again. The psychopath on the mend portrayed by Penn Badgely in the thriller-drama You will return for a fifth and final season of the Netflix series, the streaming giant has confirmed.

“You became an instant sensation on Netflix with a resounding cultural impact that has grown season over season,” Peter Friedlander, Vice President of Scripted Series at Netflix US and Canada shared in a statement. “We’re excited — and a bit terrified — to see how it all ends for Joe Goldberg, but one thing is for sure: YOU are in for an unforgettable ending.”

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You premiered in September 2018 on Lifetime before making the move to Netflix in December 2019 for its subsequent seasons. From the beginning, the series was helmed by showrunner Sara Gamble, who will step into an executive producer role for the final season with Michael Foley and Justin W. Lo stepping in as co-showrunners.

“I feel lucky to have worked with an artist as gifted and thoughtful as Penn Badgely,” Gamble shared in a statement. “I’m proud of what we’ve all accomplished and feel privileged to pass the torch. I’m excited to watch and support the You team as they bring Joe Goldberg’s journey to its delightfully twisted conclusion.”

And Badgely himself is ready to release himself from Goldberg’s cage – metaphorically. “[Joe] is like putting on a straitjacket,” Badgley told Rolling Stone in a recent interview. “It’s specific, and I wonder how it’ll feel the next time I pick up a big lift creatively as an actor, because it is so technical. Every scene is not really that scene. It’s the scene with me and my thoughts and a third and fourth level. I feel like I’ve learned so much and I do love the process and I’m grateful for it. But when it’s over, I’ll be glad to close that book and say, ‘That was a good book. Let’s leave that book there. Just put it on the shelf.’”

By the end of the recently concluded fourth season, Goldberg is one-half of a New York City power couple – alongside Charlotte Ritchie as Kate Galvin – as he comes back from a psychotic break marked by hallucinations and, of course, murder.

“It’s scary that he’s got a friend and partner. And he’s never been so integrated in his feelings about his violence, and himself. That’s spooky,” Ritchie recently told Rolling Stone. “All through the other series he’s been in denial that he’s a bad person and felt, oh, this is just this thing I do. There’s something about that final note where he’s with someone who’s like, I can see that you’re both and it’s fine by me, and he’s like, “I’m just here to help.” Oh no! He looks in the mirror and Rhys is there, so that signifies that he’s in a new place mentally and it’s scary. But also thrilling.”

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