You, the hugely popular Netflix thriller series, is quite different from the norm in season 4. Joe Goldberg instead becomes the detective, searching for a serial killer who wants to jail him for exterminating a group of wealthy individuals.
The twist is being hailed as a refreshing reboot for the series — after all, how many women can Joe possibly keep falling in love with, and then destroying countless lives as a result? — but as it turns out, we have You star Penn Badgley to thank for the season.
Badgley explained in the latest episode of the Podcrushed podcast how he attempted to break up a contract that obviously required intimacy scenes, but he was surprised at how his request was immediately accommodated. And quite honestly, the season is better for it.
Badgley admitted that before she took the program, she asked her if she wants to do no more intimate scenes. “I don't think I have ever stated this publicly. One of the main thoughts was, do I want to put myself back on a career path where I'm always taking the romantic lead?”
“Fidelity in every relationship, including my marriage, is important to me,” he continued. ‘My desire would be zero, to go from 100 to zero,’ he said. I know what I said. You can’t take this aspect out of the concept, so my question to them was, ‘How little less can you make it.’
"She didn't even blink an eye. She was really ecstatic that I was so open." It was a really positive experience, according to Badgley. They came back with a phenomenal reduction."
The new whodunit format for the fourth season provides an entirely different mood, in addition to Joe Goldberg now serving as a literature professor and educating young minds, but for the time being, Badgley is to thank for guiding the producers in a new direction.