Penn Badgley has revealed that he had one request on the set of You's fourth season: to have fewer sex scenes.
Since 2018, the actor has been the lead of the psychological thriller Netflix series that sees his character Joe Goldberg prominently at the centre of romantic storylines. In the first season, he was infatuated with Guinevere Beck (played by Elizabeth Lail), and in the following two seasons, he moved on to Love Quinn (Victoria Pedretti). In part one of season four, he gets romantically involved with Kate (Charlotte Ritchie).
Despite the heavy on-screen romance, in his personal life, Penn is smitten with his wife, Domino Kirke, who he wed in 2017. And speaking on his podcast Podcrushed, the former Gossip Girl alum explained that his request to You showrunner Sera Gamble stemmed from his desire to remain faithful to his partner.
“In the world we live in, we must trust our gut instincts.”
He explained: "This is actually a decision I'd made before I took the show. I don't think I've ever mentioned it publicly, but one of the main things is like, 'Do I wanna put myself back on a career path where I'm just always a romantic lead?'" Penn continued: "It's really important to me. Fidelity in every relationship — and especially my marriage — is important to me, and it just got to a point where I didn't wanna do that. Then, of course, before I took the show, is there a question of, 'Do I have a career if I don't?' I mean, you know, think about every male lead you've loved. Are they kissing someone? Are they doing a lot more than that? It's really not my desire to."
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Despite his concerns, Penn Badgley acknowledged that not having any intimate scenes in You at all would not be reasonable. "I signed this contract. I signed up for this show. I know what I did," he added. "You can't take this aspect out of the DNA of the concept, so how much less can you make it was my question to them."
The 36-year-old, who shares a son with Domino, also revealed that Sera "didn't even bat an eye" when he asked about having fewer intimate scenes and was happy he voiced his opinion. "She was really glad that I was that honest, and she was sort of, I wanna say almost empowered," he said. "She had a really positive response. She appreciated my directness, and she appreciated that I was also being reasonable and practical, and they came back with a phenomenal reduction."
Netflix is currently streaming the first part of You's season four, with the rest of the episodes dropping on 9 March. Viewers have watched as Joe, who has rebranded himself as Professor Jonathan Moore, is rivalled by another killer on the loose after he attempts to start over in London. Has he finally met his match? We'll soon find out...
You can thank us later…
