ICYMI: Netflix’s hit serial killer series You is back on its screens, following Joe (played by Penn Badgley) as he flees California and sets a new life in London as a professor-in-disguise in a high society community.
Following its premiere, Penn kept us in the loop on the inner workings of his character in an episode of his podcast Podcrushed, revealing one significant detail this season: the reduction of intimate scenes.
He shared, "I asked Sera Gamble, [the] creator, 'Can I just do no more intimacy scenes?' This was actually a decision I had made before I took the show. I don't think I've ever mentioned it publicly, but one of the main things is, Do I want to put myself back on a career path where I'm always [the] romantic lead?"
Badgley, who is happily married to Domino Kirke since 2017, added: "Fidelity in every relationship — especially in a marriage — is important to me."
That said, he is also aware that his request might not be welcomed, which got him reflecting: "I signed this contract. I signed up for the 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."
To his relief though, Sera "didn't even bat an eye" on his request, and was completely on board with it. “She was really glad that I was that honest, and she was sort of almost empowered. She had a really positive response and they came back with a phenomenal reduction."
The Gossip Girl alum previously opened up about how welcoming his 2-year-old son with his wife changed his approach to playing You's lead character — especially when Joe's "morbid" parenting in season 3 ran counter to Badgley's own "joyful" transition to life as a parent.
"The funny thing is I was curious what my new fatherhood, how that would influence my experience with Joe and acting with him," he shared in an interview. "And sometimes it was almost not helpful because I was having such a light and joyful experience — still am — and Joe is so petrified."
"He's so scared, and of course, I can identify with the fear. But he's just so morbid in his obsessive, sort of like self-preservation, primal instinct that sometimes I almost found it harder as a result, you know what I mean? It really depended on the scene."
Curious about how he performed in the new season? Have a lovely weekend as you watch the first half of You's fourth season streaming now on Netflix; while the remaining episodes will drop on March 9.
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