You found new life on Netflix after languishing on Lifetime for a season. Before long, a horrified Penn Badgley found himself attempting to dissuade superfans of Killer Joe as he stalked his way through Guinevere Beck’s friend group. The following trio of seasons did nothing to deter bingewatching enthusiasts from obsessing over Joe, but fortunately, You has been in on the morbid joke from the start, and most of the fans get it, too.
Even though the ennui-filled fourth season dragged with Joe in gloomy England, he’s making a much anticipated return to his old stomping grounds. Let’s talk about the fresh injection of life (and death) that we can expect for the fifth and final season.
Release Date
You will say goodbye to you on April 24. This date announcement video doubled as an initial teaser and previewed Joe’s return to Mooney’s, where the basement cage remains intact. Clearly, Joe is going back to basics with this voiceover: “Here we are, together again, back to where it began. And the one constant, the one thing that has always been there for me is you.” Yikes.
Plot
After basking in the Los Angeles sunshine, withering in suburbia, and not knowing what the hell to do with himself in London, Joe is back in Manhattan. As stated above, he will head back to Mooney’s and the cage that held Benji and Beck. So plenty of ghosts will surface, and Netflix confirms as much in the following description: “In the epic fifth and final season, Joe Goldberg 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.”
Do not expect those “dark desires” to include any sex scenes for Joe, however, because Badgley has had enough of them and came to an agreement with producers to that effect. After the third season “partner swap” scene, which was one of the most uncomfortable sex scenes in TV history, it’s not hard to make a few guesses regarding the timing of his decision.
Netflix has otherwise stayed quiet on plot, but previously, the streaming service unveiled a photo of Joe playing with fire by hanging out near the scene of his old crimes. Presumably, he would have cleaned up the evidence that remains in the basement, but Baby Reindeer actress Nava Mau will portray a detective, so perhaps Joe has made the dumbest move ever (and there have already been plenty) by coming back to his TV ground central. Perhaps, deep down, Joe wants to be caught? His tour of terror could alternatively land him in prison or a coffin, and he would likely not stop until the latter happened.
This final season will see plenty of memory-filled sights but under the authority of a new showrunner after series co-creator Sera Gamble departed and was replaced by You writers Michael Foley and Justin W. Lo.
Cast
Joe Goldberg always felt like an evolution of Badgley’s Gossip Girl role, and he will bring that hot mess to a close with this season.
Charlotte Richie will return as Joe’s current wife, Kate, and her brother will be portrayed by Griffin Matthews (The Flight Attendant). Kate also has identical twin sisters, both portrayed by Anna Camp (Pitch Perfect), who could prove to be foils for Joe. Speaking of trouble, Nava Mau (Baby Reindeer) picked up the role of an NYPD detective.
Potential victims include Madeline Brewer (The Handmaid’s Tale) as Bronte, who works for Joe as a bookseller.
Do not count out a return by John Stamos as Dr. Nicky, who has unfinished business after Joe framed him for Beck’s death seasons ago. This fifth season should also haunt Joe with Elizabeth Lail’s Beck, Victoria Pedretti’s Love, and Ambry Childers’ Candace. Whether or not we will see a return of Tati Gabrielle’s Marienne remains unknown, and although Jenna Ortega previously expressed interest in returning as Ellie, her schedule is probably too wild for a NYC-pop-in just to visit with Joe.
Trailer
A lengthier teaser trailer takes viewers deeper into Joe-designed hell.