Hello, you – for the final time.
Can you believe it? After four seasons of insane moments that made us stare at the screen in shock, questions we need answered, and so much more, You is coming to an end with Season 5. It’s been a long time coming, and honestly, I’m completely alright with the show ending at this point, but for those who happen to love the tale of Joe, the fifth season will wrap things up.
But, what exactly is the deal with You Season 5? When is it going to come out? Who is going to come back? For many of your questions about the next installment of the show, here is what we know so far.
What Is The You Season 5 Premiere Date?
At the time of updating this in February 2024, a premiere date hasn’t been announced, but we do know that the intention is for the show to release in 2024, according to Tudum.
This isn’t that surprising, as there have been moments in the series where we’ve gotten seasons right after the other, such as the first and the second. The third came at the end of 2021, two years after Season 2 came out, and the fourth season, which was split up into two parts, released in 2023. This would be the shortest waiting period so far for the show since it first came out.
Our 2024 TV schedule is heating up with You. Can next year get here any sooner?
Penn Badgley Is Expected To Return, But No Cast Has Been Announced Yet
Obviously, it wouldn’t be You without the main man himself, Joe, coming back – or whatever new name he decides to take on. Joe has been played by Penn Badgley since the first season, so it would be quite surprising if Season 5 didn’t have him. I’d say fans should expect him to come back.
Badgley even spoke about how he was ready for the show to end in an interview with IndieWire:
It feels to me like we need to do another season. It feels to me like Joe needs to get what’s coming to him, and now he has further to fall because he has all this power and wealth. But of course, that’s not up to me. I don’t know where it’s going. But to me, with this concept and with this character, we always wanted to be responsible and it’s not just the kind of thing we can let keep going because it’s doing well.
This was right before it was announced the fifth season would be the last, so it looks like Badgley is getting his wish.
If you like Penn Badgley, check out some of his other roles.
However, no cast announcements have been made for the last season, which isn’t that much of a surprise. But we could theorize on who might show up.
Based on the You Season 4 ending, I wouldn’t be surprised if Kate became a main character in the final season, as she and Joe went away to New York together at the very end.
Possible Past Characters Could Come Back For The Last Season
There are possibilities of other characters from past seasons showing up, and today, we’ll get into likely scenarios and who could possibly return in Season 5 for this final tango with Joe:
Charlotte Ritchie as Kate
I think a pretty obvious one to expect to come back is Kate, because she’s living with Joe in New York City by the end of the fourth season. It would be pretty shocking if she didn’t return – but man, if the writer’s suddenly decided to randomly kill her off before we even come back to her story, I think I would actually be shocked.
Tati Gabrielle as Marienne
Another possible person returning could be Marienne, whom we know is still alive at the end of the fourth season and is with her daughter again. Tati Gabrielle, who plays Marienne, spoke with Digital Spy in March 2023 about the opportunity to return, saying she would love to come back for the fifth season, saying the character “hasn’t gotten her peace:”
I would love to come back again. I feel like she hasn't gotten her piece yet, and I do think she deserves that. She's had a hard life, man. She just needs a break. I would love to see more for Marienne. If she's not part of taking down Joe, I just want her to be able to witness it.
I mean, I’m down for this too, let’s go!
Jenna Ortega as Ellie
I feel like this is wishful thinking at this point, but I would love to see Jenna Ortega return as Ellie for just a bit. She was such a great character in Season 2 and Joe basically forced her out of the country when Delilah was killed. My poor girl needs her vengeance.
Jenna Ortega even said she wanted to go back for the fourth season but filming for Wednesday got in the way – and I doubt she’ll have the time now to do so. But a girl can dream. Maybe a guest appearance?
Victoria Pedretti as Love
As we saw in the last few episodes, Victoria Pedretti had a guest appearance as Love in a vision, so she could come back in some form for Joe. I could totally see it, and considering fans all over the world genuinely love the heck out of this character, her having one last laugh at Joe might be what the doctor ordered.
Elizabeth Lail as Guinevere Beck
We also saw Elizabeth Lail as Beck again at the end of You Season 4. It was another hallucination but who knows what Joe might get up to in Season 5? Beck could make one last appearance in that bookshop of his.
Amy Leigh Hickman as Nadia
It might be a bit of stretch, but I could also see Nadia coming back in some way in Season 5 of You. While she was locked away at the end (framed for Joe’s murder of her close friend/lover), I could see her trying to find a way out. And Hickman has agreed with it too.
In an interview with Digital Spy in March 2023, she said that she believes Nadia is really capable of anything after Season 4, and thinks her story isn’t done:
I would love to come back and play her again. I think that if she can pull off everything she did in season 4, there's not much she can't do. So I wouldn't put anything past her, I wouldn't past Joe as well. I think that's something they have in common, weirdly.
Quite honestly, anyone who isn’t dead could come back, at least according to Sera Gamble in an interview with People in February 2023. The former showrunner hinted that anyone who Joe hasn’t killed is “fair game” to return for the show:
Any character who's not dead who knows anything about Joe, it's fair game to try to exert any justice. And any character who is dead, [Joe] has a really active imagination.
Penn Badgley also brought up the idea of his past coming back to haunt him in a Netflix Tudum teaser he did for You Season 5 during an event in June 2023, saying that there were “many loose ends from Joe’s past” that could wind up appearing in Season 5.
I mean, that just screams that someone from past seasons will return.
There are a variety of faces we could see – and now, we just have to wait and wonder who Joe might run into.
Season 5 Is Most Likely Going To Explore Joe Accepting His Dark Side
The whole entire second-half of You Season 4 had me on the edge of my seat, because we finally saw Joe start to really embrace his dark side, as played by another of the You Season 4 cast members. In the final minutes, we see that person appear again, signaling that it might be the start of Joe beginning to not try and make excuses for who he is anymore – or even attempting to change.
In an interview from the Tudum article on the renewal, Badgley talked about the end of the season, and how he feels that it sets up an epic finale for Joe:
I think it sets us up to actually have a really great finale season. Can his inner monologue evolve some now? What does it mean for him to accept himself?
There was also an interview done with BuzzFeed News regarding the finale in March 2023, and how the finale really sets up the story of Joe becoming a more emotionless killer because now, he’s accepted “what he needs to do,” according to Sera Gamble:
He's a little bit different in that he doesn't maybe have the same level of almost guilt and justification going on, just honesty and acceptance of doing what he needs to do. The thing that's scary about Joe isn't that he's some dead-eyed, emotionless murderer because he's not.
While we’re not entirely sure what Season 5 is going to be about, whether it’s all about Joe getting his just desserts or something else, that dark side is most likely going to play a bigger role. .
You Season 5 Will Be Back In New York
At first, we weren’t sure, but as of updating this in November 2023, we know that Season 5 of You will take place in New York. Netflix confirmed in that same tease from Penn Badgley that the series would return back to the city that never sleeps now that Joe is back in YV.
This isn’t that surprising, considering both Kate and Joe moved there together to start a new life, and Joe bought a bookstore – what bookstore that is, we don’t know yet, but hopefully that’ll be talked about in the next season.
Former showrunner for the show, Sera Gamble, talked about how they were excited to bring Joe back to NYC in the finale with New York Post, saying it was “full-circle” and could be explored in many new ways:
We really like the idea of Joe coming full circle to New York, but being in such a different position – being among the people he was judging as a Brooklyn boy in Season 1, and having unlimited resources, but also having lost the anonymity that helped him get away with everything he got away with the last time that he was in New York.
To be honest, at this point, You has been set in numerous locations, but I’m not surprised it’s back where it started.
We Shouldn’t Expect Kate To Know “Everything” Going Into Season 5
While we did see that Joe and Kate are living together now in New York City with apparently “no secrets,” Sera Gamble was quick to say that the audience should not expect Kate to know everything about Joe in Season 5, according to an interview that she did with BuzzFeed News in March 2023:
I don't think we should assume that Kate leaves the season really knowing everything, just because he said he was gonna say everything. Her baseline standard of what she will accept in a relationship and in someone else's behavior might not be the same as yours or mine. In fact, she says it's not, because Tom Lockwood was her father, and that's what she was raised seeing.
Without a doubt, Kate has turned into one of the characters that is the most accepting of what Joe has done in the past, but if she doesn’t quite know everything, maybe there might be some room for her to end up getting betrayed in the future like all of Joe’s past love interests. Who knows?
Joe Still Might Not Face Justice In Season 5
I think a part of us are all lowkey expecting Joe to finally get arrested, locked up, killed or worse in the last season if his past catches up with him. But in an interview with E! News in March 2023, Sera Gamble was quick to explain that justice might not be in the cards for Joe – it’s a big reason as to why they didn’t kill of Joe in the Season 4 finale, because sometimes justice isn’t served:
It's fun to write him as very appealing and like a romantic hero, but when we are looking at the facts of the case in a conversation with Penn or with the writers, we're just like, 'This person is horrible. They need to be punished.' But the world is full of horrible men like Joe, who will never, ever, ever be punished. So there's a certain discipline that we have to have…after seasons of holding ourselves to a certain standard of honesty about this, we can't just turn around and throw him in maximum security prison or throw him off a bridge for good. We have to think a little bit more deeply about what we're really saying about someone like him.
I think if you’re expecting Joe to get hauled away by police cars like he’s Saul from Better Call Saul, I think you’re thinking too optimistically. It makes me truly wonder what kind of fresh hell we are about to walk into with this final season.
Michael Foley And Justin W. Lo Are The New Showrunners For You Season 5
Another big piece of news that came with the renewal of the show is that the showrunner for the first four seasons, Sera Gamble, is stepping down to work on other projects. In a statement she released, she said that making the show was “ridiculously fun” but it was time for her to focus on new opportunities:
As I step back from day-to-day showrunning to focus on new projects, I’m immensely grateful to co-creator and all-around genius Greg Berlanti, Caroline Kepnes, my friends at Berlanti Productions and Alloy Entertainment, and our steadfast partners at Warner Bros and Netflix. Making the show alongside our writers, producers, directors, cast and crew has been an honor and ridiculously fun. And I feel lucky to have worked with an artist as gifted and thoughtful as Penn Badgley. I’m proud of what we’ve all accomplished and feel privileged to pass the torch.
Michael Foley and Justin W. Lo, who have both written for the drama, are going to be acting as co-showrunners for the final season, so it’ll be in good hands.
What are you the most excited for when it comes to You Season 5? I know 2024 is somehow already here, but we must be patient. Now I just need to re-watch the first few seasons again and again.
