Penn Badgley reveals he broke “no sex scenes” clause for season five of ‘You’
Beady-eyed fans have noticed something different in the fifth season of You. Actor Penn Badgley has revealed he broke his “no sex scenes” clause in the fifth and final season of the stalker-thriller series You, released on Netflix on April 24th.
The Gossip Girl actor returned to his role as obsessive stalker Joe Goldberg, who has returned to New York with a wife and child, still trying to reconcile the loose ends of his past. Badgley had previously said that he worked with the show creator, Sera Gamble, in the fourth season to reduce the number of sex scenes in the show.
He explained on his podcast Podcrushed: “This was actually a decision I had made before I took the show. Do I want to put myself back on a career path where I am always romantic lead?” he mused. “Fidelity, in every relationship, and especially my marriage, is important to me.”
In a new interview, Badgley has revealed why he could no longer abstain from on-screen sex scenes. “I had to throw that out the window,” he told People magazine. “That was the question again. All right, what am I willing to do? And as I always said, I said, my desire is that least as possible, but if it’s necessary that’s the show we all sign up to make.”
He talked of a strategic, purposeful approach to using sex as a plot device in the show. “So, let’s make sure it’s vital, let’s make sure it’s important, it’s deliberate. And we did,” he stated.
Badgley explained in the same interview that he would miss his character “a little bit”, as the show has been filmed over nine years. “He’s been a profound experience for me. He’s not a real person. So what have I been doing? I have been engaging in this…my entire 30s,” he stated incredulously.
The American actor has also recently spoken out about the dark side of fame. The star stated that it is “extremely unnatural, just the way that people want to relate to you. It’s not a new idea that fame has all these nefarious dimensions to it.”
Season five is the last instalment of You. All episodes are streaming now on Netflix.