You Season 5 star Penn Badgley bids farewell to playing Joe Goldberg for almost a decade

You Season 5 star Penn Badgley bids farewell to playing Joe Goldberg for almost a decade.

Hello You… Well, I mean the reader reading this. Do not worry I won’t put you in a glass caged locker. Feel free to read further with no fear of getting trapped.

After nearly 10 years in the skin of one of Television's most terrifying anti-heroes, You Season 5 star Penn Badgley has finally closed down the curtains on his complex depiction of Joe Goldberg.

As Netflix wraps up the series with Season 5, Badgley reflects on playing Joe Goldberg, who has not only been with him through his 30s but has considerably affected the way he views manhood, love, and identity.

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A decade with Joe: Growth, change, and letting go in You Season 5

As it happens in television series, You Season 5 saw Joe Goldberg’s character arc finally reaching its conclusion. But for Penn Badgley, the end means something far more personal. The 38-year-old actor talked about his experience with playing such a role in an exclusive conversation with PEOPLE.

Badgley states:

“I think I will miss him a little bit. He’s been a profound experience for me”

The actor, who embarked on this journey at the age of 30, ends this chapter with You Season 5 at 38. He explains further:

“I was 30 when I took the role. I'm going to be 39 this year[...] For me, it’s like my 30s”

The timeline of You, from its short-lived days as a Lifetime Original to its Netflix Top 10 era, falls almost parallel onto the decade that saw Badgley get married and become a father—milestones from his personal life that, according to him, restructured his perceptive of the self and, particularly determined how he portrayed Joe.

Season 5 of You brings Joe back to New York, which becomes a full-circle moment for him. This is where he confronts the ghosts of his past while trying to maintain a brittle facade of normality.

Yet for Badgley, the murkier core of Joe—the warped idea of ‘love’, domination, and morality—offered years of personal reflection.

“He’s not a real person. So what have I been doing? I’ve been engaging in this long [journey] my entire 30s.”

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The man behind the monster: What Joe taught Penn

As You Season 5 closes not just a chapter but an entire book on Joe’s obsessive pursuit of ‘love’ and control, Badgley is left considering what this character truly meant to him.

“He taught me a lot about what it is to be a man by knowing what it is not…”

Badgley shares this observation while distancing himself from Joe’s extremes while acknowledging the uncomfortable truths that the character unearthed.

Joe’s entire personality is built on the delusion of him being the protector, as someone saves all of these women that he becomes obsessed with all of his “you’s”. But, as Badgley puts it,

“Joe was an innocent boy who needed protection that he did not get, and then he grew up to become the protector he believed he never had.”

That vicious psychological cycle of ache and defense, twisted into something dangerous, deeply captivated the actor. He explains further:

“That was vital to his identity. So vital that he creates danger that he needs to protect people from…”

This central idea plays out one last time in You Season 5, where Joe’s illusion of heroism, his guise of being a saviour, begins to shatter under the weight of his past actions.

But to Badgley, the show was never solely about the manipulation and murder. He emphasizes:

“This show is actually more about that than it’s about a killer. It’s more about what we think about love, what is true love…”

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As You Season 5 draws the curtains on Joe Goldberg’s story, Penn Badgley moves away from a character who has well-defined much of his 30s.

His farewell comes out of a deep sense of personal growth, major contemplation, and a better understanding of what we tell ourselves about love.

It’s the end of a terrifying journey—one that leaves behind more than just a fictional trail of dead bodies. But for now… goodbye, you.