After five seasons, 50 episodes, and far too many murders, it’s finally time to say, “Goodbye, You.”
The hit serial killer thriller, inspired by Caroline Kepnes’ book series, premiered on Lifetime back in 2018 and gained a whole new audience when Netflix acquired it ahead of Season 2. Over the years, fans watched in horror and suspense as charismatic, well-read, incredibly dangerous bookstore owner Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley) stalked, charmed, manipulated, framed, abused, murdered, and evaded accountability for his abhorrent actions.
After You Season 4 took Joe to London, where he met his wife Kate (Charlotte Ritchie), Season 5 showed his journey come full circle as he returned home to New York with Kate and his son Henry (Frankie DeMaio) in hopes of living a murder-free life of virtue. For three years, Joe stuck to the plan, but after reopening Mooney’s book store — home of the OG glass cage — an intriguing woman named Bronte (Madison Brewer) entered his life and he fell back into an all too familiar pattern.
Spoilers for You Season 5 ahead.
Before the end credits rolled on You‘s fifth and final season, Joe’s long-awaited fate was revealed. He’s convicted for the murders of Love Quinn, Guinevere Beck, and more, and is forced to live out the rest of his days behind bars. While opinions on Joe’s just deserts may differ, You stars Ritchie and Brewer are personally satisfied with how the series ended.
“When I was speaking to our showrunners, Michael Foley and Justin W. Lo, before we got started with this whole thing, they were like, ‘This show could go on for 15 seasons. If he keeps getting away with it, then it keeps going.’ And so the conclusion naturally will be he’s in jail or he’s dead,” Brewer told Decider. “I think they stay true and consistent through the entire five seasons, right up through the finale, into those final moments that he cannot take responsibility for what he’s done, and that he’s hurt people, and it’s his fault.”
“Personally, I don’t know what a fate is for a life like that,” Ritchie said. “I think it’s the right one. He gets isolation, he’s not allowed access to these women. And that feels to me like the baseline. I don’t know how you conclude it. It’s amazing that they have.”
In honor of You‘s final chapter, Season 5’s leading ladies visited Decider’s office and broke down major scenes with Penn Badgley, gushed over teaming up with returning Season 1 and Season 4 stars, reflected on the intense series finale, and more.
DECIDER: Madeline, what excited you most about coming in at the tail end of such a successful series? And did you feel being a fan of the show helped prepare you to play Bronte?
MADELINE BREWER: I was super excited to join. Obviously, I am a super fan of the show, and I think it it helped in the fact that Bronte is a character who knows so much about all of these people. She knows this history. So it was homework I didn’t have to do. It was already there because I love the show so much.
Bronte goes into this relationship with Joe having all this extra knowledge, his past, the murders that have occurred in his orbit. Yet she still exhibits this internal struggle and is unsure if he is guilty or not for a majority of the season. Was it challenging to play all of Bronte’s different intentions throughout the season? How did you justify that conflicted behavior?
BREWER: It wasn’t all that difficult. I think the writing is there for Bronte and really assists her in this struggle, especially in like Episode 6, with Nava Mau, who plays our brilliant detective. It was a lot of fun trying to play a woman caught between two things that are very true to her. And I mean, who isn’t? I feel like that’s something a lot of people can relate to. But I really enjoyed playing a character that is struggling with their own voice, with their own internal gut instinct, because I think, especially as women, we are often told that our intuitions can be wrong or bad or not to listen to them. And I think in the end, Bronte’s intuition and instinct prevails and she gets the answers to the questions that she set out to find.
Charlotte, we had the pleasure of meeting you in season four. Kate, thankfully has such an evolution this season. Were you aware of her full trajectory when you first signed onto the show, and what was your reaction to learning that she would have this moral reckoning and flip the script on Joe?
CHARLOTTE RITCHIE: I didn’t know. And I was drawn to Kate because I liked her coldness and how unlikable she was. She had her own thing, the iciness, and the fact that she saw through Joe so quickly, but that all just went horribly wrong, and she fell in love with him. I didn’t know that she would have this progression. And I’m so pleased that she did. I feel like it’s been really fun one and it’s nice because they let her grapple with the fact that she does have this side to her that is a little bit power hungry and a little into the stuff that Joe’s into, but she resists. And it’s been really nice to play, just to warm her up a bit.
We meet a number of new characters in Season 5. The talented Anna Camp plays both of Kate’s twin sisters, Reagan and Maddie. What was it like watching Anna tap into that duality? And do you have a favorite twin?
RITCHIE: Oh, great question. I know you do.
BREWER: I do.
RITCHIE: I loved watching Anna do that. One of the first scenes we see it happen, she’s playing Regan and Maddie at a dinner party, and Sarah, who was her double, is switching in with her and learned all the lines. She did such a beautiful job. To see that transition from Anna when she’s suddenly in another seat in a whole different outfit was really impressive. It’s such an incredible performance, and she wore it really lightly, but there was a kind of mood that would happen on the set when she was one character or the other. If Reagan was there, she wouldn’t miss a line. And then Maddie, she’d be giggling and mess it up. It was really interesting. I kind of think Maddie is my fave.
BREWER: Nope. I love Reagan. I love Reagan.
One of Season 5’s biggest scenes is, of course, when Kate, Nadia, and Marianne team up with Joe in the cage. Charlotte, did you feel a sense of sisterhood when you were shooting that?
RITCHIE: I did. I mean, I love Tati and Amy-Leigh. They’re so great. They’re so lovely. They are so brilliant. Amy and I got to know each other even better on this series. We met on series four, but we didn’t have a lot of scenes together. But there was something about Tati coming back with Marianne and the gravitas of that arrival. We were like, “Oh, she’s here! Oh my god, she’s here!” So that was really fun. It felt quite monumental. I had actually just had a really bad virus. So when we filmed all that stuff, I was like, crying on my knees. [Laughs] So I’m kind of delirious. There’s a real like fun-ness to it, because I wasn’t really switched on. But I feel like that’s OK because there’s kind of a delirium to the whole scene. It’s almost dream-like. And it’s really funny when Nadia goes, “Oh, vampire fiction? I’m actually almost embarrassed for you.” What an amazing intro to him coming around. I love it, it’s really great. [Laughs]
Oh you were amazing in that scene, not even a hint of being post-virus. I was also so glad to see scenes between Bronte and Beck, and that moving bookstore scene between her and Marianne. I feel like that was the moment where things really clicked for Bronte.
BREWER: I was so thrilled to be able to work with Elizabeth and Tati, just as a fan of the show. And then to tie Bronte’s story into Beck’s was magical for me, because Season 1 is one of my favorite seasons of television ever. Especially in that flashback when she’s the TA. It’s just so cool. It’s like stepping inside of my own fandom. Especially in this season, the writing is so extraordinary. It’s there on the page. Tati and I may have exchanged — but Tati was also flying in and out, because she was shooting The Last Of Us.
RITCHIE: She was there for like a day or something.
BREWER: And she’s taking on this incredible scene in the finish line with this character who’s been through so much. It’s so important, especially Bronte. She’s coming from this exchange with Kate and she’s able to dismiss Kate so easily as the jealous ex-wife. And I think that’s a really interesting dynamic in the way that we pit women against each other in their vying jealousness over a man. Then for Bronte, who’s been with Joe’s life for years — she studied these people — to see a ghost in Mooney’s, or who she thinks is a ghost in Marianne. Marianne lists to Bronte, point-by-point all of the anxiety she’s had. She tells her that every beautiful moment she’s feeling — the reason she sticks around with Joe — every single one of those women has felt it too. Except for Nadia, because she was a student. But it is the crystallizing moment for Bronte, which puts her on the path that takes her through the finale.
The finale was like a mini horror movie. Madeline, you’re so phenomenal in this episode, and Penn, who has embodied this character so masterfully for years, gives what feels like his greatest performance of the whole series. What was your experience shooting those intense finale scenes together?
BREWER: We shot every other episode this season over about nine days per episode, and this finale was, I think 16 to 18 days. We really got in there. It’s so unusual to shoot an episode in sequence. You’re usually shooting scenes out of order, depending on whatever works best for the shooting schedule. But because we had so much blood and scratches and then rain and everything, we kind of had to shoot it in order. And it was wonderful. Bronte sets out to answer a question and she sees that question through to the end. Working with Penn is so magnificent. I’m a fan of Penn Badgley as a human being. We love him. He’s the best. He’s such a great leader, and he speaks about this show so intelligently, with such passion, and I think that all shows in these final scenes. He really lets it rip. We talked about it earlier, something I had forgotten, that we never see Joe Goldberg really be as horrible as he is to these women. It’s never on screen, and you see it in this finale. He literally punches me across the face.
RITCHIE: Yeah, he becomes really unredeemable doesn’t he?
BREWER: We get to that point where it’s like, oh, you are actually truly an abusive person. You’re not just a manipulator. You’re an abuser, and you’re a murderer. And there’s no denying that, now — in case anybody was still doubting.
Fans have been waiting to find out Joe’s fate since 2018. What were your thoughts when you finally learned how the series would end for him? Were you satisfied with the conclusion?
RITCHIE: Well, there was rumors, weren’t there? For the weeks to the end, even I didn’t know if I survived or not. [Laughs] So, being in the room, Penn was like, “Are you sad that you —” And I was like, “Am I sad that I what?” He was like, “Oh, sad that you missed your lunch yesterday,” like trying to cover up. [Laughs] I can’t remember when we found out about his fate, but there were a lot of conversations around it. Personally, I don’t know what a fate is for a life like that. I think it’s the right one. He gets isolation, he’s not allowed access to these women. And that feels to me like the baseline. I don’t know how you conclude it. It’s amazing that they have.
BREWER: When I was speaking to our showrunners, Michael Foley and Justin W. Lo, before we got started with this whole thing, they were like, “This show could go on for 15 seasons. If he keeps getting away with it, then it keeps going.” And so the conclusion naturally will be he’s in jail or he’s dead. So they told me that eventually Bronte will hold his fate in her hands, which of course I was like “YES. I am so in, baby!” [Laughs] But I think they stay true and they stay consistent through the entire five seasons, right up through the finale into those final moments that he cannot take responsibility for what he’s done, and that he’s hurt people, and it’s his fault.
RITCHIE: Even at the end, he manages to turn it around.
BREWER: And it’s funny, we get that scene where Henry abandons him emotionally, and that’s the closest he gets to truly understanding the pain that he’s caused and the repercussions of it. Because otherwise he just can blame it on you, he can blame it on me, he can blame it on Beck, he could blame it on Love. Anybody. I think it’s the most fitting that he doesn’t have access to anyone. He can’t hurt anybody anymore.
We get to see a bit of each character’s story in the aftermath of Joe’s arrest. Beyond those end credits, what do you hope for your characters? Do you think those women stay in touch and check on each other? Or are they fully putting Joe and anything related to him behind them?
RITCHIE: Oh I hope they’re checking in.
BREWER: I hope they are, but I don’t think they are.
RITCHIE: No, I don’t think they are. I think hopefully Kate’s gone to a beach with Lady Phoebe and Henry. And she’s setting up a resort there or something.
BREWER: You get the sense that Bronte has moved on. I kind of love that she’s like, “Eventually he’ll just be some asshole I dated,” because he doesn’t get to keep that over her forever. I don’t know what she does, but she’s alive. That’s kind of the point. That they made it.
As we say “Goodbye, You,” what do you hope viewers take away from the final season and the series as a whole?
BREWER: This is a Penn question. [Laughs]
RITCHIE: I really hope they enjoy it. I feel like it goes out with a real bang and it’s so complicated and so clever the way that it weaves all of these threads together. I really enjoyed watching it and hope people do. I hope it does justice to the last four series.
BREWER: I mean ultimately we were making a TV show. I love working in television. I love working with these actors. I hope that viewers enjoy the thing that we’ve all collaborated on and put together. Our writers are brilliant, our entire crew. It’s the best crew in New York, I swear. We had such a great time. I hope they enjoyed this labor of love — not even a labor of love. I hope they enjoy what we made. But also I think You does say a lot about what we are willing to accept in love as young people and in dating. I hope people have more discernment or they trust their intuition and instincts and know that if something doesn’t feel safe, it probably isn’t.
This interview was edited for length and clarity.
You Season 5 is now streaming on Netflix.
