Slight spoilers ahead for Season 4 Part 1 of You! Read with caution!
Penn Badgley has returned once again as the stalker Joe Goldberg on Season 4 of Netflix’s You. With the series turning the tables on Joe this time around, as he’s now the one being stalked as people left and right are being murdered in London, it's always coming up with something new for each season. However, showrunner Sera Gamble is opening up about the future of the series and how long she plans to keep Joe’s story going.
The Lifetime-turned-Netflix series has found great success on the streaming giant, which is just one of many of Penn Badgley’s projects that has gotten people hooked on him. With Season 4 Part 2 of the stalker drama set to premiere in March, Sera Gamble told THR her plans for a potential Season 5 and when fans could expect the series to come to a close:
We have an idea for Season 5 that we’re excited about. It was never anyone’s intention to run this one into the ground. When we’re done, we’ll be done. And we’ll pack it up. Even in the early conversations with Penn, the idea was not to crank out episodes forever; it’s to feel like we have told the complete story. And though I feel like tonally, we’re very different, and we are not trying to sell Joe as any kind of a hero with a straight face. This is a show that is in the tradition of these single-lead shows with a guy who does increasingly bad things. The beautiful thing about it is that when his arc is complete, so is the show.
Even though the cast of You has been killing it this season, I'd imagine there comes a point when it's time to say goodbye. However, with the way Season 4 has been going, there seems to still be a lot coming, and the fact that Sera Gamble has a plan for Season 5 is good news. So fans shouldn’t have to worry about Joe’s arc coming to an end any time soon.
Meanwhile, this new format for You’s release could be the future of the series, depending on what happens in the future. Season 4 is split into two parts, with five episodes each, and while it seems like it’s a bit annoying, it works. Sera Gamble mentioned the advantages of having split seasons and how easy it was for her and Greg Berlanti to work around:
Netflix approached us. The structure split cleanly down the center of the season because [exec producer] Greg Berlanti and I have written so many midseason cliffhangers for old school [broadcast] television.
You is unpredictable, and it has been known to end on some cliffhangers. So, having a split anywhere in the middle of the season makes for some extra fun anticipation for the fans. Plus, by having an even number of episodes it seems to work out perfectly, as it gives fans more time to absorb everything they just watched in the first part while also keeping them on their toes until Part 2 arrives.
Season 4 of You has been more of a whodunnit so far, and following the reveal in Episode 5 of who is behind everything, it should be interesting to see what will happen in the second half of the season. Luckily since Sera Gamble seems to have more things planned, I don’t think fans have to worry about Joe just yet.
Watch Season 4 Part 1 of You now with a Netflix subscription. Part 2 will debut on Thursday, March 9, and based on Gamble's comments it seems like there might be another season or two in the future. Also, check out the Netflix 2023 TV schedule to see what else is coming to the streamer this year.
