Penn Badgley is preparing to bid farewell to his iconic role as Joe Goldberg in You, as the hit Netflix series nears its fifth and final season. While the character of Joe, a love-struck yet deadly killer, has captivated audiences, Badgley has admitted that playing such a dark and complex figure hasn’t been without its challenges. Reflecting on his initial reaction to the role, the actor revealed that he had reservations about portraying someone so dangerous yet so compelling, acknowledging the toll it took on him both professionally and personally.
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Badgley’s character in You took a toll on him
During an interview with Awards Daily, Badley revealed, “I first started reading the script. I was compelled by the project as a whole. I think I was uncertain about Joe, and that uncertainty was increased by reading the book. The book is unrelenting because you never get outside of his mind.” He continued, “The things you’re able to do in the eco-system of the mind are very different on the page than showing it on camera. The more I read the book, the more certain I was — for all of the graces of the project — I knew I didn’t really want to embody this guy.”
For a character, Badgley did not want to play initially, he did a good job at portraying him onscreen so much so that fans romanticise his character of Joe Goldberg. However, teh actor also admitted that even after playing teh character for several years, it is not easy to just shake it off. He has been acting to stab, strangle and dismember innocent people and fake bodies on the sets.
He told Radio Times, “the way that it lingers is in the energy that it takes. When you fake-strangle somebody, your nervous system doesn’t quite know that you’re not [actually] strangling someone. When you see fake blood and you’re [pretending to] stab someone – your physical system isn’t used to seeing something visceral like that and it being fake. It does take a toll.”
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You Season 5 to serve consequences to Joe Goldberg’s actions?
Season 4 of You saw Joe Goldberg seemingly achieve everything he had ever wanted, embracing his true self and finding a new connection with his lover, Kate Galvin. The season finale left fans with a sense of closure and Badgley felt it could have served as a fitting conclusion to the series.
However, he also recognized that Joe’s dark journey needed to come full circle, with the character facing consequences for his past actions. This realisation ultimately led to the decision for at least one more season, as reported by CheatSheet.
In 2023, during an interview with IndieWire, “Badgley shared, “It feels to me like we need to do another season. It feels to me like Joe needs to get what’s coming to him, and now he has further to fall because he has all this power and wealth.” He added, “But of course, that’s not up to me. I don’t know where it’s going. But to me, with this concept and with this character, we always wanted to be responsible and it’s not just the kind of thing we can let keep going because it’s doing well.”