Penn Badgley on how season five of ‘You’ will be ‘grand finale’ - if it happens
Penn Badgley has opened up on the future of 'You' and the physical toll the dark and intense role took on him.
Penn Badgley says if there is a season five of 'You' it is likely to be the show's "grand finale".
The 36-year-old actor has starred as serial killer and stalker Joe Goldberg for four seasons of the hit Netflix psychological thriller series and he admits that, unless anything has changed, he is of the belief that another series would see his character meet his conclusion.
Speaking in a cover interview with GQ Hype, Penn said: "I know what Greg [Berlanti, co-creator] pitched me a few years back as what he thought was the right way to end. If there's another one, it's going to be, I think, a grand finale."
The former 'Gossip Girl' star also opened up about getting back problems due to the intensity of the role.
He added: "The only aspect of it that stays with me is the physical. I have back problems often in the middle of the season – there's a physical echo of being that tense for that much of the day."
Penn recently opened up about requesting no more sex scenes on the show for the new series, and he admitted he was "nervous" to ask the showrunners.
He said: "I was nervous to even have that conversation. It was not easy. It was easy because of Sera's response, and I felt relieved. But technically speaking, if I thought I'd had the ability to set that boundary earlier, I would have."
The actor - who has son James, two, with wife Domino Kirke - knew it would be difficult to bow out of on-camera intimacy because of the raunchy earlier seasons of the drama, so he was thankful that showrunner Sera was more than happy to comply with his wishes.
Speaking on his 'Podcrushed' podcast, Penn told co-host Nava Kavelin last month: “I asked Sera Gamble can I just do no more intimacy scenes.
"This is actually a decision I made before I took the show. I don’t think I have ever mentioned it publicly. One of the main things was, do I want to put myself back on a career path where I’m always playing the romantic lead?
“Fidelity in every relationship, including my marriage, is important to me.
"It’s got to the point where I don’t want to do that.
"So I said to Sera, ‘my desire would be zero, to go from 100 to zero.’
"But I signed this contract. I signed up for this show. I know what I did. You can’t take this aspect out of the DNA of the concept. So how much less can you make it, was my question to them.
"She didn’t even bat an eye. She was really glad that I was that honest. She was sort of almost, I want to say empowered, it had a really positive response. They came back with a phenomenal reduction.”
Elsewhere, Penn told GQ he can see himself working behind the camera in the future.
He said: "Maybe because I've done this now for so long, directing and writing and producing are all far more interesting to me."
Read the full feature online at GQ Hype now via https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/culture/article/penn-badgley-interview-2023.
