Joe Goldberg’s reign of terror is over.
Spoilers ahead for the fifth and final season of “You.”
In “You” Season 5, now streaming on Netflix, Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley) finally meets his fate.
Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley) in a mug shot in “You” Season 5. COURTESY OF NETFLIX
For five seasons, Joe — who thinks of himself as a sensitive romantic — has gone around killing his girlfriends and anyone else standing in his way.
At the end of Season 5 — which sees Joe returning to his roots in New York City — he’s finally exposed to the world, caught for his crimes and put in prison.
While he’s married to Kate (Charlotte Ritchie), he has an affair with Bronte (Madeline Brewer), who turns out to be catfishing him in order to take him down.
But that wasn’t always the plan.
“You” showrunner and exec producer Michael Foley exclusively told The Post, “We hadn’t landed on [his ending] until very late in the season. Throughout the series, there was a shared belief among the writers and the creators that Joe wouldn’t get away with his crimes.”
He added, “We came into the season knowing that we didn’t want to redeem him, that he would get his comeuppance, that he was going to face some of those whose lives he ruined. And most importantly, we knew he was going to be made to face himself.”
Madeline Brewer and Penn Badgley in “You” Season 5. ©Netflix/Courtesy Everett Collection
Foley explained that, while the writers knew they didn’t want to redeem Joe in terms of whether he would die, be captured or go on trial, “it was late in the season that we finally locked that down.”
He explained that they thought death would be “too easy” of an ending for Joe.
“We liked putting him in a veritable cage [in prison]. We liked him not knowing the touch of a lover.”
Penn Badgley in “You” Season 5. ©Netflix/Courtesy Everett Collection
Justin Lo and Mike Foley attend Netflix’s “You” Season 5 New York Screening at the Plaza Hotel on April 23, 2025, in New York City. WireImage
Madeline Brewer and Penn Badgley in “You” Season 5. ©Netflix/Courtesy Everett Collection
In the final moments of the series, the former “Gossip Girl” star’s signature voiceover still doesn’t take responsibility for his crimes.
Foley said that was also a key part of the ending, “having the chance to have his pithy coda, and of course put [the blame] on everybody else, rather than himself.”
Co-showrunner and exec producer Justin W. Lo explained that they had a few alternate endings in mind for Joe.
Penn Badgley as Joe in prison at the end of “You” Season 5. Courtesy of Netflix
Gina Girolamo, Justin Lo, b, Anna Camp, Tati Gabrielle, Natasha Behnam, Madeline Brewer, Tom Francis, Penn Badgley, Amy Leigh Hickman, Frankie DeMaio, Elizabeth Lail, Charlotte Ritchie, Pete Ploszek, Griffin Matthews, Mike Foley and Sarah Schechter attend the Netflix “You” Season 5 New York Screening at the Plaza Hotel on April 23, 2025, in New York City. WireImage
Penn Badgley as Joe in “You” Season 5. ©Netflix/Courtesy Everett Collection
“We went through many different options, one of which being that he did die at the hands of Bronte. I was even remembering a version where he was shot. And [the audience] didn’t realize that he shot until the very last episode, and then he realizes he’s a ghost.”
Lo added that the alternate ending was “a very early iteration.”
Badgley also made headlines when Season 4 came out in 2023 for saying that he no longer wanted to do sex scenes.
But in Season 5, Joe and Bronte steam up the screen in several scenes.
Foley explained, “It was a matter of Penn saying to us, [that] if it is meaningful to the story, he was still willing to go there. There wasn’t a wall per se, but it would never be gratuitous. It would be something that we would talk through with each instance of any physical intimacy.”
