The fourth season of You has dropped on Netflix — and fans are talking about one noticeable change: Joe’s lack of intimate scenes compared to previous seasons.
Now, Penn Badgley is opening up about the change in his character.
The 36-year-old actor shed light on what happened in his Podcrushed podcast. He explained how he was able to avoid having to film intimate moments for the Netflix hit show’s current season, saying:
“I asked [showrunner] Sera Gamble can I just do no more intimacy scenes. This is actually a decision I made before I took the show. I don’t think I have ever mentioned it publicly. One of the main things was, do I want to put myself back on a career path where I’m always playing the romantic lead?”
Penn went on to explain his decision:
“Fidelity in every relationship, including my marriage, is important to me. It’s got to the point where I don’t want to do that. So I said to Sera, ‘my desire would be zero, to go from 100 to zero.’ But I signed this contract. I signed up for this show. I know what I did. You can’t take this aspect out of the DNA of the concept.
So how much less can you make it, was my question to them. She didn’t even bat an eye. She was really glad that I was that honest. She was sort of almost, I want to say empowered, it had a really positive response. They came back with a phenomenal reduction.”
