Netflix announces final season of ‘You’ with plans to revisit its roots
Netflix has announced the fifth and final season of You, which is set to return to its roots with a story about Penn Badgley’s Joe Goldberg wrestling to maintain peace when his past threatens to haunt him.
The final episodes of You will return to the streamer on April 24th. They conclude the series with harsh reflections on everything Goldberg has done since his return to New York.
As the synopsis reads: “In the epic fifth and final season, Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley) returns to New York to enjoy his happily ever after… until his perfect life is threatened by the ghosts of his past and his own dark desires.”
In the teaser trailer, Goldberg is seen revisiting Mooney’s bookstore, reminiscing about everything that has happened since the beginning. “Here we are, together again, back to where it began,” he says. “And the one constant, the one thing that has always been there for me is you.”
Along with Badgley, You season five also features Charlotte Ritchie, Madeline Brewer, Anna Camp, and Griffin Matthews. Showrunners Michael Foley and Justin Lo lead the way, and Sera Gamble and Badgley serve as executive producers.
Following the release of You season four, many attempted to predict where Goldberg’s future was headed after he returned to New York with Kate (Ritchie) by his side, promising support in the form of fortune and significant resources to clear his name and help him get his son back.
Badgley was also one who delivered his thoughts on where he felt the story was going, telling NME, “The question becomes: ‘What is satisfying for us [as viewers], not for Joe?'”
He continued, “If it’s not answering that question, because it is a tough one, maybe it’s figuring out an even more refined or elegant way to pose that question. That’s what we have an opportunity to do and I think what the writers have been positioning [the show] to do the whole time. The ending that they’ve pitched to me, I think it is that.”
While seeing Goldberg receive his comeuppance for all his wrongdoings is a necessary progression from the previous storylines, viewers remain poised for what this might be or look like, considering the nuanced and ambiguous relationship the showrunners have forged between them and the titular character. Whether or not this means he will encounter punishment severe enough to rival everything he has done, however, remains to be seen.