‘You’ Season 4: Charlotte Ritchie Explains What Sets Kate Apart From Joe’s Other Love Interests
In You Season 4, Joe Goldberg, aka Jonathan Moore, has a new love interest named Kate. Portrayed by Charlotte Ritchie, Kate is a beautiful and intelligent art director with a wealthy inner circle. Each of Joe’s obsessions is unique in their own way, but Ritchie recently explains what sets her character apart.
[WARNING: This article contains spoilers for You Season 4 Part 1.]
Kate doesn’t trust Joe in ‘You’ Season 4
It’s apparent from the start that Kate from You Season 4 is pretty different from Joe’s previous love interests. Somehow, Joe fairly easily charmed his way into the hearts of Guinevere Beck and Love Quinn.
Though Marienne Bellamy didn’t like Joe much at first, she quickly warmed up to him after realizing they both grew up in poverty. Kate isn’t so trusting.
She is suspicious of Joe immediately and wants nothing to do with him. Though Joe saves her from muggers, she doesn’t get caught up in his “heroic” actions. Her steely demeanor is unflinching, and Kate doesn’t care if Joe doesn’t like her. Even when the pair begin sleeping together, Kate mostly keeps her guard up.
Charlotte Ritchie explains what sets Kate apart from Joe’s previous love interests
Eventually, You Season 4 fans learn more about Kate and that there is a reason for her cold behavior. “When I was young, my mother forbade me from crying,” she tells Joe. “If I skinned my knee, when my grandparents died — she wouldn’t look at me unless I was perfectly stoic. Hide all feeling. And it just became default.”
Charlotte Ritchie told Vogue that this aspect of Kate is what makes her so different from Joe’s previous love interests. “She’s chronically unable to express her feelings,” the actor stated.
“Her armor is unbelievably strong, and there are moments when a more well-adjusted person might be upset, but for her, there’s a kind of numbness there. That was tricky for me because I’m quite demonstrative with my emotions, so I had to keep thinking, What am I repressing here?”
Kate is afraid of people overstepping her boundaries
While speaking with Vogue, Ritchie stated that she believes Kate’s biggest fear is “having her boundaries overstepped.” She added, “You get a sense that there’s maybe something in her past that makes her wary of that.”
Perhaps that something is her father is Tom Lockwood, an “activist investor” who makes his money through despicable means. Once Kate became wise to her father’s ways, she attempted to cut all ties with the man.
However, against her wishes, Kate’s father sends security guards to protect her once the Eat the Rich Killer begins attacking. It seems that no matter how hard Kate tries, she can’t stop Tom Lockwood from involving himself in her life.
You Season 4 Part 1 premieres Feb 9, 2023, and Part 2 March 9, 2023, only on Netflix.
