Season 4 of Netflix’s hugely popular drama series You saw serial stalker and killer Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley) relocate to London where he took on a new identity as a literature professor, fell in with a filthy rich new group of friends, and found himself entangled in a high society murder mystery right out of an Agatha Christie novel, all while trying to resist his compulsive attraction to ice queen Kate (Charlotte Ritchie).
The second half of Season 4 is now streaming on Netflix, bringing Joe’s misadventures in the United Kingdom to the kind of suspenseful, blood-drenched denouement that we’ve come to expect from the show—and fans are already eager for the monologuing murder maestro to return.
Netflix has renewed You for Season 5, which will follow Joe as he readjusts to life in New York City, having finally been able to reassume his true identity after previously faking his death at the end of Season 3. The Season 4 finale saw Joe return to the States with his new partner, Kate, as she prepared to take over her father’s company.
Season 5 will also be shaking things up behind the camera; Sera Gamble is stepping down as showrunner, and longtime series writers Michael Foley and Justin W. Lo will be taking over.
“Making the show alongside our writers, producers, directors, cast and crew has been an honor and ridiculously fun,” Gamble said in a recent statement. “And I feel lucky to have worked with an artist as gifted and thoughtful as Penn Badgely. I’m proud of what we’ve all accomplished and feel privileged to pass the torch. I’m excited to watch and support the You team as they bring Joe Goldberg’s journey to its delightfully twisted conclusion.”
The show’s fifth season will be its last
Gamble has said that the creative teem feel strongly that the series not outstay its welcome, and that the saga of Joe Goldberg be brought to an end before they run out of good ideas.
“It was never anyone’s intention to run this one into the ground,” she said. “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.”
Who will be in the cast?
Each new season of You functions as a soft reboot of the show, with Penn Badgley’s Joe moving to a new setting and starting over as he tries to leave his past behind him. Season 5 could be slightly different, however, as several key characters made it out of Season 4 alive. In addition to Badgley, Charlotte Ritchie is expected to return as Kate, although it’s unclear whether we’ll be seeing Tati Gabrielle’s Marienne or Amy-Leigh Hickman’s Nadia again.
When would Season 5 be released?
The third season of You dropped in October 2021, and Season 4 arrived on Netflix in two halves, in February and March 2023, which means we’re probably in for a wait of around a year before new episodes arrive on Netflix.