Penn Badgley Has An Important PSA About You Season 2: Joe Is Still A Serial Killer

Fans of Netflix's You might recall a rather interesting public reaction to the show's lead character, Joe Goldberg, in the wake of the initial season. Despite being a cold-blooded killer, the general consensus online seemed to be that almost all people actually really liked Joe. And nevertheless Penn Badgley has been open about the fact that his character is supposed to create viewers feel "conflicted," he also plans on "tweaking" his approach moving forward so that fans know that Joe's behavior (or in this case, Will's behavior, since he changes his identity this season) isn't OK.


"People come up to me in shackles like, just take me," Badgley told ET in an interview published yesterday (December 16). "I've done the hard work. The cage is back there, just put me in." And as soon as he was kidding in some ways, the reactions his character on Twitter were not all that different. Following the release of Season 1, the actor had to remind fans who called Joe "attractive" that he is, case in point, a murderer. One fan even asked for him to kidnap her, which he respectfully declined.


"I didn't ever mean to be correcting people in that way... Nevertheless, it was interesting," he mentioned in regard to the overwhelmingly positive reactions to Joe. "I think the media response last year was very interesting to be able to see, and I'm actually... To me the whole point of this show is that it has to be this viral sort of thing. It's this conversation piece, this social experiment, so I'm not sure."


fair, it has been interesting to be able to see the reactions to the series and just how rapidly some people were ready to look past Joe's most disturbing and horrifying qualities. Fortunately, the dark and twisted character hasn't really messed with Badgley's head, as some might assume. "I don't struggle with it in the way that you would think," he mentioned. "I leave Joe in back of once they mention 'cut,' within reason, yet for me, I think about all these other things. Like, these conversations we're having, like, 'Damn, how come we wish to watch this so much?' Like, this is intense."


Still, he's very grateful for all the passion the show has gotten, and any time Season 2 arrives later this month, fans are in for a combination of both old and new elements. "I feel like ultimately, in terms of these — the gore, the darkness — it's the same show... In a good way," he mentioned. "Like, you know what you're getting. Yet really, what's different are these two ladies, Candace and Love. They resemble something that was absent from the initial season."


As for Joe (er, Will), only time will tell if people's perception of him will change. What Badgley does know, nevertheless, is that his character is giving Gossip Girl's Dan Humphrey a run for his cash, with an increasing collection of fans more interested in talking to him about Joe. "Joe is tough Dan's legacy, I'll mention that, pretty speedily he said.


You Season 2 hits Netflix on Thursday, December 26.