Penn Badgley has struggled with his role as Joe Goldberg in the psychological thriller You, which is available to stream on Netflix. Goldberg is a bookstore manager in New York who falls in love with a customer named Guinevere Beck, before becoming obsessed. Joe then shows his darker side and begins manipulating everything in Guinevere’s life in order to get closer.
Badgley has said in the past that the character takes some time to get over after he immerses himself in the role, and that was once again the case for season 2 which recently wrapped up production.
In fact, Badgley said that there were moments during season 2 that were so intense that he became physically ill while getting into character.
“There are some things I’ve done with prosthetic bodies in this [new] season that were kind of nauseating as I did them, I will say that,” he said in an interview with ET Online. “It’s the ones where I’m trying to embody Joe really living in that house, really having these rare moments of coming to terms with what he’s done, and that’s far more difficult than committing a certain act in a moment, whether it’s hitting Shay Mitchell over the head with a rock or stabbing someone in the neck.”
In season 2, a new woman will come into Joe’s life and we will see how he reacts next. The female lead will be played by Haunting of Hill House breakout star Victoria Pedretti.
Season 1 of You was based on the 2014 Caroline Kepnes novel of the same name. Season 2, meanwhile, will be based on Kepnes’ follow-up book titled “Hidden Bodies.”
Season 1 premiered in the United States on September 9, 2018, on Lifetime. The second season will be produced as a Netflix Original series, though no official premiere date has been announced at this time.