Season 5 has yet to be officially ordered by Netflix, but given the massive popularity of the series, it’s a given that Penn Badgley will return as serial stalker/killer Joe Goldberg in another round of murderous mayhem.
You, one of Netflix’s best shows, 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 has a billionaire girlfriend and it seems like a complete cover for his criminal activities.
As for renewal possibilities, Badgley previously gave reason to believe it’s coming, hinting that Season 5 could be the final chapter. In addition, creator Sera Gamble said she had an idea for another sequel. All we need is for Netflix to give it the green light.
Here’s everything we know so far about your fifth season.
You season 5 release date speculation
Netflix hasn’t announced a renewal for a fifth season yet, so there’s no release date either. But we can make an educated guess about the release date window.
Since the show moved to Netflix for season 2, each subsequent installment has arrived less than two years later. To be more specific, Season 2 was released on December 26, 2019, while Season 3 followed 22 months later on October 15, 2021. The first part of Season 4 premiered 16 months later on February 9, 2023.
Once Season 5 is ordered, it will likely drop in a similar time frame – possibly late fall 2024.
Netflix may or may not split season 5 in two like it did season 4.
You are the season 5 cast
It’s hard to imagine Season 5 coming back without its progression: Penn Badgley as Joe Goldberga stalker and a serial killer.
The way Season 4 ended, he’ll likely join in Charlotte Richie as Kate GalvinJoe’s girlfriend and new billionaire CEO.
With their move to New York City, the show may not bring back some of the surviving characters seen in the London story, like Tilly Keeper as Lady Phoebe.
However, several characters from Joe’s past are still alive, possibly bent on revenge/justice, including Tati Gabriel as Marian Bellamy, a librarian/artist and Joe’s former love interest; and Nadia Fran, Joe’s former student who is now imprisoned.
“We have ideas for Ellie if her schedule allows her to visit us again,” Gamble noted.
Season four featured 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 character from the past that fans would especially like to see is Gina Ortega as Ellie Alves, Joe’s teenage neighbor from Season 2. She is one of the few people who knows his pitfalls and is still alive. Showrunner Sera Gamble said IndieWire (Opens in a new tab) that they wanted to bring her back in Season 4, but Ortega’s other Netflix series — you may have heard of her… Wed — 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
Season 5 could be a complete reset for the show, as Joe’s love interest murder was covered up and cleared up with the help of Kate’s bank account and an army of PR geeks. He returns home to New York City, where his stalking/killing spree first began.
Gamble said mowing (Opens in a new tab)We always knew we wanted him to come back to New York, get Homecoming, get his real name, shave off his beard, and look like Classic Joe, but he’d be so much more in the category of people he used to watch from afar. Now he has almost unlimited resources. He has the support of powerful people and he’s a lot less ambivalent about what he does in private. So, that’s the setup.”
While the show has mostly focused on who to hunt/kill next, in Season 5 you can completely change the formula because it could be the last. Badgley said the same thing in an interview IndieWire (Opens in a new tab).
Badgley explained, “I feel like we need to do another season. I feel like Joe needs to get what’s coming to him, and now he has to fall even more because he has all this power and wealth.”
“But of course, it’s not up to me. I don’t know where it’s going. But for me, with this concept and with this character, we’ve always wanted to be in charge and it’s not just the kind of thing we can let go because it works so well.”
He added, “I know that the creators of the show always had next season in mind as the last season, if there was ever to be another. And then it would be an amazing decision because it seems to me that something is in the works from before the end of this season.”
If Joe is finally held responsible for everything he’s done, it may come at the hands of one or more of the people he wronged and yet he survives. We’d love to see a team of two young women that Joe mentors: Elie Alves and Nadia Varane. Maybe Marianne can get some revenge too.
