“It lingers”: When You Season 5 star Penn Badgley broke silence on the challenges of playing a serial killer

The upcoming You Season 5 once again brings back the sinister Joe Goldberg to his familiar stomping grounds in New York. Scheduled to premiere on April 24, You Season 5 will also mark Joe Goldberg's final appearance as the obsessive and ruthless serial killer.

You premiered for the first time on Netflix back in 2018, and since then, Joe has traveled across Los Angeles, the suburbs of San Franciso, and London, all in search of his elusive love interests whom he can't resist murdering in cold blood. Anyone who gets in his way is also taken down.

Penn Badgley, who plays Joe Goldberg on the Netflix show, recently spoke in a podcast with RadioTimes, during which he revealed how it felt to portray a serial killer for such a sustained period. When asked about the difficulty of switching out of his character once filming is done, Badgley answered:

"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."

Here's everything that we know.

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You season 5 star Penn Badgley's standpoint on intimacy on screen

Badgley was recently at the receiving end of online hatred after expressing his wish to do fewer sex scenes in the future, owing to a sense of respect for his wife. When speaking about the subject, Badgley commented:

"I think it [portraying intimacy] should be unpacked from every perspective. Directors, writers and producers should think about it. Actors, especially at the beginning [of their careers], have no power. They are complete pawns. You have no agency whatsoever. Only as you get more and more successful do you have agency, and even then, it’s quite controlled. I finally felt comfortable to say: "This is where I’m at. How does that sound to you?" And the show’s response was really rewarding and encouraging."

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What to expect from You Season 5?

In the fifth and final season, Joe seems to have carved out a perfect life for himself in New York. He has a caring wife and a child, along with all the riches and connections that come with living an elite life in the bustling metropolis. Executive Producer Michael Folly stated in this regard to Tudum:

"If you ask Joe, he’s incredibly happy with the life he has being Prince Charming in his marriage to Kate. Kate and Joe are adulting in a way, and he’s accepting of that. In some ways, he’s existing at the margins of the Lockwood ecosystem, and you would think that wouldn’t be enough for Joe. And yet he loves this current life so much that he’s willing to resist any impulses that might rock the boat and threaten the life he’s made for himself. Most importantly, we’re really keying in on the life that he’s providing for Henry.”

Season 5 will be exclusively available on Netflix.

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