Why Penn Badgley Broke His No Sex Scenes Rule for <i>You</i> Season 5

Not too long ago, Penn Badgley, who stars as a handsome murderer in You, vowed not to do any more sex scenes in his Netflix series. However, for the show’s final season that debuted this week, he broke his own rule in service to the story.

“I had to throw that out the window,” Badgley told People, but that change was “a real question” he and the You crew considered ahead of season 5.

“That was the question again. All right, what am I willing to do?” he said. He added that his “desire” was to do intimate scenes “least as possible, but if it’s necessary, that’s the show we all sign up to make. So, let’s make sure it’s vital, let’s make sure it’s important, it’s deliberate. And we did.”

Badgley explained that, in the fifth season, his killer protagonist Joe Goldberg “really had to return to form,” especially since he goes back to New York, where his story began. So he goes back to channeling a “romantic icon” in full force, falling for and seducing another woman in the very bookstore where the show kicked off. But this time, instead of romanticizing Joe’s crimes, the show goes in a different direction. The series—and Badgley himself—has long tried to critique how dangerous men are able to get away with bad behavior if they’re good looking, manipulative, or both.

In 2023, Badgley opened up about wanting to do less sex scenes ahead of You’s fourth season. He recalled on an episode of the Podcrushed podcast, “I asked Sera Gamble, [the] creator, ‘Can I just do no more intimacy scenes?’ This was actually a decision I had made before I took the show. I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned it publicly, but one of the main things is, Do I want to put myself back on a career path where I’m always [the] romantic lead?”

The actor was aware, however, that his request might not be feasible for You, considering its premise. “I signed up for the show. I know what I did,” he said, and added, “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.” Gamble “had a really positive response and they came back with a phenomenal reduction,” Badgley recalled.

Badgley as Joe Goldberg in You

He also told Variety that he wanted to have limited sex scenes, “having done a fair amount of them in my career.” “It’s not a place where I’ve blurred lines,” he continued. “There’s almost nothing I could say with more consecration. That aspect of Hollywood has always been very disturbing to me—and that aspect of the job, that mercurial boundary—has always been something that I actually don’t want to play with at all.”

He also cited “my fidelity in my relationship” as a reason behind his decision. “It’s important to me. And actually, it was one of the reasons that I initially wanted to turn the role down. I didn’t tell anybody that. But that is why.” But his wife, Domino Kirke, “encouraged” him to take the role. “And I wasn’t going to listen to anyone more than her,” he added.