I'm Rewatching You For Season 5, And I Have A Theory Involving A Potential Returning Cast Member

Ya’ll…I have an idea of who might come back for You Season 5. And it’s got me excited.

As someone who loves to watch the best shows to binge on Netflix, one of my favorites has been You, since it became an original on the platform. With my lovely Netflix subscription, I have binged this series time and time again because I can’t get enough of Penn Badgley as Joe. He plays it so well.

But, upon my rewatch for the upcoming fifth season of You—which is also set to be its last—I started to theorize just who could be coming back for this season. Now, I have some ideas…and I think you’re going to want to hear them. Let’s talk about it.

We Already Know That Joe Is Going To Run Into Familiar Faces

So let’s be honest here and say we all know Joe is going to run into familiar faces. We’ve known for a while. Netflix Tudum confirmed back in June 2024 at a Global Event that this was going to happen.

Honestly, that’s been the name of the game since the series began. It feels like every season, there is always something that comes back from Joe’s past to haunt him, whether it’s a person or his past sins. Regardless, they always come knocking.

You Season 4 left us with so many questions, and I’ve been on the edge of my seat since then because I am so curious about what is going to happen next. I know for a fact that we will be seeing people from past seasons. And I think I have an idea of who.

We Haven’t Seen Jenna Ortega’s Ellie In A Long While

Do you remember that Jenna Ortega was actually on this series before she became super famous? I do, and I’ve been begging for her to come back ever since her last appearance.

While Ortega has undoubtedly made a name for herself over the last few years, I’ve been following her career since her appearance in You. I had a feeling her acting and spunky nature were going to lead her to a lot of success. And here she is, years later, taking the world by storm. There are so many great upcoming Jenna Ortega movies to look forward to that it makes me wonder how we ever lived in a world without her being a star.

Before she became a huge hit for her portrayal of Wednesday Addams in Wednesday, she was in You as Ellie, the younger sister of Delilah, a woman that Joe meets in L.A. in Season 2 who happens to be the landlord of his apartment building.

In Season 2, Joe does end up sleeping with Delilah – but because he had a whole thing going on with Love, she ends up capturing Delilah, putting her in the glass box and eventually, she’s killed – by Love herself. Joe actually spares Ellie’s life, but not before she finds out her sister has been killed because of Joe and Love.

He sends Ellie off to literally anywhere that wasn’t there, promising to send her money. And then we…never see her again.

In the show's time span, it has been some time. Joe is married now, with a child, and while he’s still young, it feels like he has lived so many different lives since he sent Ellie off. The final season would be the perfect place to bring her in.

I Have A Feeling She Might Team Up With Nadia

As we saw in the trailer for You Season 5, we are going to see Nadia again – or, at least we are going to see her behind bars after she was framed for the murder of her SO, someone that Joe took out himself. We don’t know if she’s talking to anyone about what happened, but she is very much in prison.

I know that at first, it might seem unrealistic to imagine that Ellie made her way to Europe, of all places…but it’s really not as shocking as you might think.

Sure, in Season 2 that would have been pretty impossible because she was a minor, but now it’s been a few years, and she has grown up. She can easily buy a plane ticket. It wouldn’t be that shocking if she somehow ended up in England.

And if she did get there, maybe she would be clued into Nadia’s case. She might recognize the signs because she has dealt with Joe before, and then sits down with Nadia to figure out how to exact revenge from the outside. I could totally see Ellie doing something like that.

Or She Might Team Up With Marienne, Who Has A Personal Connection To Joe

We also know that Marienne will be back in Season 5 of You. It’s incredible to see how far Tati Gabrielle has come since her role in the third season, because she’s appeared in so much – from the upcoming The Last of Us cast in Season 2 all the way to the star of a new Naughty Dog game. But of course, it’s a treat to see her as Marienne once again – and maybe that’s who Ellie connects with.

Ellie might find this a better personal connection because Marienne has seen Joe's romantic intentions, just as Delilah did, but Marienne escaped (relatively) unscathed. Marienne knows Joe is in New York, and it’s clear that even though she is still alive, she’s not his biggest fan.

The two of them could find a way to have him caught for everything that he’s done. I could totally see it.

Either Way, I’m Excited For What’s To Come In Season 5

To be honest, Ellie could not show up at all. Ortega was supposed to appear in Season 4 but Wednesday filming got in the way. Now, she has filmed Wednesday Season 2, but I would not be shocked if the schedules didn’t align and, for some reason, she doesn't return.

Or hey, Ellie might not be mad at Joe at all. But I doubt that.

But regardless, I’m eager to see what Season 5 will bring. I’ve waited two years for this and as someone who willingly watches Joe’s evildoings over and over again, I wonder how the story will end. Will he actually get the justice that we all know needs to be served? Or is he going to skate by, again?

I’m not sure, but on April 24, we are certainly going to find out. And I will be there with my popcorn and ready to eat up all this drama like I always do.