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This article contains a few spoilers from You season 4.
We’ve known for a while that season 5 of You was going to be Joe Goldberg’s (Penn Badgley) swan song. When the series was renewed for a fifth season back in 2023, it was announced at the time that it would be the show’s final season. Netflix has now revealed that season 5 is set to premiere in 2025, showing us a couple of hints at what this final chapter might entail for Joe.
In addition to this announcement, Netflix has released two posters, both centered on Joe’s victims across the last four seasons. Because of this, it seems reasonable to guess (or at least hope) that maybe Joe will finally face some consequences for the trail of bodies he’s left in his wake across the last four seasons.
For the briefest of moments last season, it seemed like Joe may have felt some remorse for what he’s done. His brain created an entirely separate personality in order for him to continue killing, and he came close to taking his own life when he realized that no matter what he does, he’s a killer at heart. However, despite surviving his attempt at death by suicide, Joe doesn’t see this second chance as an opportunity to atone and face the consequences for what he’s done. Instead, with the encouragement of his new incredibly wealthy partner Kate (Charlotte Ritchie), he decides to double down on his misdeeds.
One of the posters shows newspaper clippings of Joe’s victims surrounding his face, with different letters circled and underlined as though someone is looking for clues in the headlines. Nadia (Amy-Leigh Hickman) may have been temporarily taken off the board after Joe framed her for her friend’s death, but she’s one of the few people still living who knows about Joe’s true nature. Marriene (Tati Gabrielle) is also currently in the wind after faking her death with Nadia’s help and escaping from Joe. It’s not entirely unlikely that either of them, or someone else from Joe’s past, could be back on his trail as the new season begins.
The other poster also features newspaper clippings, but this time arranged in a shadow box of sorts, along with other mementos from Joe’s past victims. Joe’s past and his victims are very clearly the focus of these quick teases of the new season. Exactly how they factor into his present or his future has yet to be revealed, but this show is known for taking some pretty big swings. Hopefully these swings involve some actual consequences for Joe, but we’ll just have to see.
A show like You has to toe the line between making Joe too sympathetic and coming down too hard on him too soon. This show probably wouldn’t have lasted for five seasons if Joe had been caught and gone to prison in season 2. But at the same time, it doesn’t seem right to give him a true happily ever after either, given how many people he’s killed and everything else he’s done to cover his tracks. It will be interesting to see what this final season has in store for Joe and the people pulled into his orbit. Will he continue to embrace the darkest parts of himself without consequence, or will his past finally come back to haunt him?
The post You Season 5 Teases Joe’s Past Coming Back to Haunt Him appeared first on Den of Geek.
