Who does Dylan Arnold play in You? Character arc and storyline explored

Dylan Arnold plays Theo Engler, a lovesick college student in You Season 3. Theo lives next door to Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley) and Love Quinn (Victoria Pedretti) and gets pulled into their dark and dangerous world. His obsession with Love puts him in serious trouble, trapping him in a cesspool of lies, secrets, and murder.

But who is Dylan Arnold, the actor behind Theo? Let’s take a closer look at both Theo's storyline and Dylan's growing character.

Theo’s Story in You Season 3

Theo Engler is a college student living with his rich but emotionally distant father, Matthew Engler. Unlike Mr. Engler, Theo is emotional, romantic, and desperate for love and attention. So when he meets Love, he falls hard for her.

Despite Love being married to Joe, Theo pursues her. Although at first, Love pushes him away, she eventually gives in to his advances. What Theo doesn’t realize is that Love is just using him, and that getting involved with her could cost him his life.

Theo’s strained relationship with his father drives much of his behavior. Feeling ignored, he looks for affection and validation in the wrong place—Love’s arms, which leads him to danger.

What starts off as a one-sided crush of a lovestruck teenager becomes an obsession. Theo finds himself tangled with Love such that he finds himself in direct danger as he becomes a liability in her marriage with Joe. He trusts the wrong people and gets caught in a deadly game that he never signed up for.

As he digs deeper into Joe and Love’s world of secrets, his story begins to take a dark turn.

Though Theo is supposed to be a 19-year-old college student, Dylan Arnold is older than Victoria Pedretti in real life, a fact that the actors have been found joking about while filming.

Before joining the cast of You, Dylan Arnold was known for his roles in horror films like Halloween (2018) and Halloween Kills (2021). He has also acted in romantic dramas, showcasing his versatility across genres. The 31-year-old actor loved playing Theo because he’s sweet, naive, and deeply human, who ends up making bad decisions. Unlike Joe and Love, Theo isn’t a killer, he’s just a young man looking for love. His innocence and emotional vulnerability make his storyline even more sad and heartbreaking.

Dylan Arnold’s performance made Theo a fan favorite. His character added a new dimension to the complexity of You—a reminder that even in a world full of killers, some people are just unlucky in love.

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