00:00I wouldn't say it if I didn't believe it. I think it is a pretty fantastic ending for a show that is very hard to end.
00:07Joe Goldberg is putting on his baseball cap and lurking in the shadows one last time in the fifth and final season of You.
00:14Starpin Badgley sat down with The Hollywood Reporter to talk about how it all ends for the show that first premiered in 2018.
00:21After spending the past few installments of the psychological thriller in California and across the pond in London, England,
00:26season five sees Joe return to where it all began in season one, New York City.
00:31What was it like bringing it all full circle?
00:34Lovely. I mean, at the very least, I got to stay home. Every other season, I've had to live somewhere else.
00:38And I think that was it. It was like, it was bringing it home for me literally and figuratively.
00:42It was just, it was a great way to finally hang up my hat.
00:48Why do you feel you need to sneak off and write murder fantasies?
00:51It's just writing.
00:52Yeah, I mean, if you'd never killed anyone, but this is, this reads like you relish it.
00:57So Joe is known for keeping trinkets from his victims.
01:00I like that you say trinkets.
01:03Teeth.
01:05Teeth and should I say the other one that starts with a T?
01:07No, nobody likes that, but yeah, yeah. So yes, he keeps trinkets.
01:10But did you get to keep anything from the set of the show once you were done filming?
01:14You know what's funny? I kept one pair of like, like track pants, like, like sweat, sweat pants.
01:21That is, I think the only thing I kept.
01:24I mean, because, you know, what else am I going to keep?
01:27You know, I don't want to look like him any more than I already do.
01:31Oh, you know what? Every season I take probably about five or so books from the, from what, he's always got books somewhere, right?
01:37And so, you know, they fill the set with all of these old used books and some of them are real treasures, you know?
01:44They're not like, they're not like valuable, but they're just interesting.
01:46What were you doing in here?
01:49I was looking.
01:51I figured that the rare books might be down here, so I wanted to see them.
01:55So you ticked a lot?
01:56What's one thing you'll miss about playing Joe and what's one thing you won't miss?
02:00I'll miss the physicality.
02:01He's a highly physical, like kind of athletic, very,
02:04like, I have to be very grounded and in my body in order to play him, even if he's not.
02:10So I like that.
02:11That's a very nice thing as an actor.
02:13What I won't miss, well, if anything, it's the effects of that,
02:18because usually halfway through the season, I end up having like these really specific back problems
02:22and like neck pains, like they're, and they can be pretty bad.
02:26You just have to work through them or whatever, but yeah, I won't, I won't miss that.
02:31You've always been critical of people, you know, worshipping and idolizing Joe
02:36in a romantic way, the way that the internet has.
02:40Without giving too much away, what can you tease about how this all ends for him?
02:44How you hope the audience responds?
02:46I think we've done it a bit, dare I say, perfectly.
02:50The only kind of way, the only way that could possibly check as many boxes as possible
02:54and be truly satisfying and feel just, I think we've done that.
02:58And that's not me, that's the writers, you know, they do that and then I just perform it.
03:03That's as much as I think I can say without, you know, otherwise it's a spoiler.
03:06But I really think, I wouldn't say it if I didn't believe it.
03:09I think it is a pretty fantastic ending for a show that is very hard to end.
03:14The fifth and final season of You is now streaming on Netflix.
03:17For all the latest TV news, head to THR.com.
03:22For The Hollywood Reporter News, I'm Tiffany Taylor.
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