Hello, You ... and farewell. You season 5 has gotten the green light from Netflix, but it will be the final chapter featuring Penn Badgley as stalker/serial killer Joe Goldberg.
You, one of the best Netflix shows, has followed Joe's killing spree from New York City to Los Angeles to London. At the end of You season 4 part 2, he'd come full circle: back home to the Big Apple. This time, he's got a billionaire girlfriend and seemingly total cover for his criminal activities.
Badgley had previously hinted You season 5 would be the final chapter. So did co-creator Sera Gamble, who is stepping back as showrunner for the final season. She will be replaced by executive producers Michael Foley and Justin W. Lo.
Will Joe Goldberg finally get his judgment day?
Here's everything we know so far about You season 5.
You season 5 release date speculation
Netflix renewed You season 5 on March 24, also announcing that it will be the final season. While there was no mention of a release date, we can make an educated guess about when You season 5 might drop.
Since the show moved to Netflix for season 2, each subsequent edition has arrived after less than two years later. To be more specific, season 2 was released Dec. 26, 2019, while season 3 followed 22 months later on Oct. 15, 2021. Season 4 part 1 premiered 16 months later on Feb. 9, 2023.
Once You season 5 is ordered, it will likely drop in a similar time frame —possibly late fall 2024.
Netflix may or may not split You season 5 into two parts like it did with season 4.
You season 5 cast
It's hard to imagine that You season 5 would return without its lead: Penn Badgley as Joe Goldberg, a stalker and serial killer.
The way season 4 left off, he is most likely to be joined by Charlotte Ritchie as Kate Galvin, Joe's girlfriend and a newly-minted billionaire CEO.
With their move to New York City, the show may not bring back some of the surviving characters seen in the London storyline, like Tilly Keeper as Lady Phoebe.
However, several figures from Joe's past remain alive, well and probably bent on revenge/justice, including Tati Gabrielle as Marienne Bellamy, a librarian/artist and Joe's former love interest; and Nadia Farran, Joe's former student who is now in prison.
"We have ideas for Ellie if her schedule allows her to visit us again," Gamble noted.
Season 4 featured cameos from Joe's other, dead romantic interests — Victoria Pedretti as Love Quinn and Elizabeth Lail as Guinevere Beck — and appearances in You season are more than possible.
Another figure from the past that fans especially want to see is Jenna Ortega as Ellie Alves, Joe's teen neighbor from season 2. She's one of the few people who know his M.O. and is still alive. Showrunner Sera Gamble told IndieWire that they wanted to bring her back in season 4, but Ortega's other Netflix series — you might've heard of it ... Wednesday — got in the way.
"We have ideas for Ellie if her schedule allows her to visit us again," Gamble noted.
You season 5 plot and story possibilities
You season 5 could be a total reset for the show, as Joe's murder of Love has been covered up and cleared away with the help of Kate's bank account and an army of PR experts. He's returned home to New York City, where his stalking/killing spree first began.
As Gamble told The Cut, "We always knew we wanted him to go back to New York, have a homecoming, have his real name, shave his beard, and look like Joe Classic, but that he would be much more in the category of people he used to watch from afar. Now he has near unlimited resources. He has the support of powerful people and he has a lot less ambivalence about what he does in private. So, that’s the setup."
While the show has mostly focused on who Joe will stalk/kill next, You season 5 could completely change the formula since it's the final chapter. Badgley said as much in an interview with IndieWire.
"It feels to me like we need to do another season. It feels to me like Joe needs to get what’s coming to him, and now he has further to fall because he has all this power and wealth,” Badgley explained.
“But of course, that’s not up to me. I don’t know where it’s going. But to me, with this concept and with this character, we always wanted to be responsible and it’s not just the kind of thing we can let keep going because it’s doing well.”
He added, "I know the creators of the show always had this next season in mind as its last, should there be another one. And then it will probably be a spectacular resolution because it feels to me like something is in the works by the very end of this season.”
If Joe is finally held responsible for all he's done, perhaps it will come at the hands of one or more of the peopled he's wronged yet left alive. We'd love to see a team-up of two young women that Joe mentored: Ellie Alves and Nadia Farran. Maybe Marienne can get some vengeance, too.
