Penn Badgley wants “You” season 5 to be his last

Penn Badgley is ready to bury Joe Goldberg once and for all.

The “You” star told IndieWire that the Netflix viral series will likely end with Season 5 after a shocking twist in the Season 4 finale. Joe Goldberg (Badgley) returns to New York to get back into shape full circle, now with newly minted billionaire corporate raider Kate (Charlotte Ritchie) by his side.

“I feel like we have to do one more season. I feel like Joe should get what’s coming to him and fall further now that he has all this power and wealth,” Badgley said. “But of course it’s not up to me.” I don’t know where he’s going. But for me, we’ve always wanted to be responsible with this concept and this character, and it’s not just the kind of thing that we can just let go because it’s going well.”

The “Gossip Girl” alum continued, “I know the creators of the show have always considered this to be the next season, if there’s going to be another one. And then it will probably be a spectacular solution, because I feel that something is being prepared for the very end of the season.”

Connected

Connected

He said: “The show has always been about taking our low-key, toxic tropes about love and relationships on their head, or following them to unsettling conclusions, and bringing it back to us in some way. which is both fun and confusing. So if he can do those other things to some extent, thematically, he will. But I don’t think it would work as well as with love, as an idea, as a vision.”

Badgley added: “I think maybe this season it’s going to change and you’re going to realize it’s not something else. You realize it’s about him. I think it introduces you to defining ‘who am I and what do I want and can I change? It is possible? What have I done?’ And that’s why I think we might be at the end. To me, I feel like this is part 1 of Joe’s climax. If there is a next season, it will be part 2. That’s how I feel.”

The “Easy A” star noted that if Netflix doesn’t pick up a fifth season, “You” fans can still read the Season 4 finale as a chilling ending, as Joe gets everything he wanted and more.

“You can leave it where it is and it’s somewhat satisfying,” Badgley said. “But I think what’s particularly dystopian or chilling about it is that he actually won. You took this man and showed him to the top. In that sense, I don’t think anyone wants that conclusion.”

He added: “We have to see Joe come to a conclusion. Do we need another season? To me, this feels like what’s happening. Now Joe has power. There are circumstances that did not exist before. In fact, it is a deeper change. In a way, he certainly doesn’t think he’s happy. It’s a really terrible feeling. In a way it reflects reality, like as long as you don’t think Joe wins. You see a man getting everything he wants, but you know it’s terrible. This is spiritually resonant storytelling for me. But I think we have one more in us. But of course I don’t know.”

Courtesy of Netflix

Badgley previously said during Happy Sad Confused Podcast that he signed a six-year contract for the series, so if Netflix wants it, it can end with season 6 instead of “You”.

“They could do two more if they wanted to,” Badgley stated. “I think if there’s going to be one more season, it’s going to be just one. That’s how I understand it, but I don’t know, I really don’t know. But I know everyone is involved, top to bottom… Nobody wants this show to get tired.”

Badgley said Fun tonight that executive producer Greg Berlanti has already given him a possible finale that he says is “brilliant.”

“He pitched it to me a year and a half ago, before I knew it was happening, Season 4. He also said how he thinks Season 5 is going to end, and I was like, ‘Yeah, that’s great,'” Badgley teased. . “Joe is like a postmodern icon at this point. He’s a very popular guy, but to me a more thorough, satisfying conclusion is needed.”

Beyond “You,” Badgley hopes to direct feature films and host true crime journalism podcasts, expanding beyond his current “Podcrushed” podcast.

“You” showrunner Sera Gamble confirmed that while there are no “firm plans,” a potential fifth season is on the cards for Joe, and may feature powerful women from Joe’s past. However, the haunting Season 4 finale shouldn’t show her “desperation” that Joe won.

“I think the gift that (novelist) Caroline Kepnes has given us with the book is that she deals with incredibly dark, serious subjects that if we were just talking about them bluntly in a conversation, we would be desperate to talk about them,” Gamble told IndieWire exclusively. . “And it gave us this cheeky, subversive, fun, crazy way to explore all of that.” This author was a young woman who wrote about how fucking scary it is to be a woman just walking down the street because any guy has no idea what’s going on in her head. That kind of vibe has now continued and paid off in the series. Joe is fun. It’s fun when you’re doing bad things, it’s fun when you’re trying to do good things.”

Gamble teased, “If we get a chance to do a little bit more, I think we want to make sure we keep the core sweet romantic Joe at the heart of it. I’d say you can walk away from this season finding yourself staying as optimistic as someone who believes in love. We know it usually works well for him.”

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