Spoiler alert for the You series finale ahead. Going into You season 5, everyone was asking the same question: What’s going to happen to Joe Goldberg? Now that the show’s final season is out, we know the answer: Joe ended You season 5 in prison, serving multiple life sentences for the murders of Beck and Peach—as well as various assaults and attempted murder charges. But Joe’s fate wasn’t always sealed. It turns out, there were at least two You season 5 alternate endings considered by the writers room that would have left Joe on a very different note.
After watching Joe get away with murder after murder for five seasons, it seemed pretty clear that the You showrunners only had two options: kill him off or put him in jail. And the writers agreed. “We came into the season knowing that we didn’t want to redeem him, that he would get his comeuppance, that he was going to face some of those whose lives he ruined,” co-showrunner Michael Foley told The Post. “And most importantly, we knew he was going to be made to face himself.”
Co-showrunner Justin Lo added that they explored a few possibilities for Joe’s death, including that he would “die at the hands of Bronte.” He continued, “I was even remembering a version where he was shot. And [the audience] didn’t realize that he was shot until the very last episode, and then he realizes he’s a ghost.” This supernatural spin was apparently considered very early on in the process, and thankfully never went very far.
Justin and Michael never really considered letting Joe get away with his many—many—crimes, but co-creator Greg Berlanti did. Speaking of You alternate endings in an interview with Vanity Fair, star Penn Badgley recounted Greg’s idea. “It was to let [Joe] get away with it—to let him have everything he thought he wanted and just be absolutely miserable,” Penn said, adding that he felt that idea fell apart because “it doesn’t take ‘her’ into account, whoever the ‘her’ is.”
For his part, the star is satisfied that Joe got what he deserved, and, frankly, so am I. You ended the only way it could have: with Joe sad, lonely, defeated, and in a cage of his own making.
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