‘You’: Penn Badgley Asked to Not Do Sex Scenes, Says Fidelity ‘Is Important to Me’
Fans watched Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley) hop into bed with multiple women. But the You star said at the very beginning he didn’t want to do sex scenes for multiple reasons. Here is how the Netflix show balanced Joe’s story with Badgley’s request.
[WARNING: The end of this article contains spoilers for You Season 4 Part 1.]
Who did Penn Badgley marry?
The actor married Domino Kirke in 2017. They had a son named James, and Kirke had a son named Cassius Riley, whom she shares with Morgan O’Kane.
The couple recently talked about their relationship on Podcrushed. “The best parts are watching the way he organizes it all,” Domino said. “The risky run with being with someone in the public eye is that they really take a lot from being recognized and needing and wanting that recognition. It’s their fuel, needing that kind of validation.”
There are other ways Badgley tries to balance fame with married life. One of them is cutting back on sex scenes.
Penn Badgley doesn’t like filming sex scenes for ‘You’
Joe’s fixation with his victims includes sexual attraction. When he gets close to them, he has successfully gotten what he wants from them, and fans watch it. Badgley revealed he initially asked not to do such scenes.
“I asked Sera Gamble, the creator, ‘Can I just do no more intimacy scenes?’” Badgley said on Podcrushed. “This is actually a decision I had made before I took the show [in 2018]. I don’t think I had ever mentioned it publicly, but one of the main things is like, do I want to put myself back in a career path where I’m just always a romantic lead?”
Of course, Joe is hardly a romantic lead. But the serial killer does have scenes where he thinks he’s romancing someone. Badgley explained how this desire also has to do with his personal life.
“Fidelity, in every relationship, and especially my marriage, is important to me,” the actor said. “And it just got to that point where I don’t want to do that.” He said Gamble reduced such scenes after his request. The actor understands why You might always involve him in filming an intimate scene here or there.
“I signed this contract, I signed up for this show, I know what I did,” he acknowledged. “You can’t take this aspect out of the DNA of the concept.”
Does ‘You’ Season 4 have any sex scenes?
Season 4 starts with Joe trying to find Marienne Bellamy (Tati Gabrielle), who escaped to Europe. He was successful but let her go to prove that she was wrong about how dangerous he was.
His next move was to take on Jonathan Moore’s identity and become a professor in London. Of course, he finds himself in another toxic friend group and fixates on Kate (Charlotte Richie). She starts off hating him but then seduces him.
So Badgley did film an intimate scene for season 4. However, it was the only one, so there could’ve been more if it wasn’t for his request.
