
Penn Badgley may portray a serial murderer who became an unexpected heartthrob in You, but the actor has stated that he wants to tone down the sex scenes this season.
Following the devastating conclusion of the previous season, Joe Goldberg has begun a new life in London as Professor Jonathan Moore.
While prior seasons focused on his pathological fixation with numerous women he is romancing, viewers will note that there aren’t as many hot and heavy moments this time around.
Penn, 36, has now clarified that it was the outcome of a request he made.
‘I asked Sera Gamble, the creator, “can I just do no more intimacy scenes?”’ he said.
‘This is actually a decision I had made before I took the show.
‘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?’ he added while speaking on his podcast Podcrushed.
The former Gossip Girl star, who is married to Domino Kirke, also stated that he prefers love parts over family ones.
‘Like, fidelity, in every relationship, and especially my marriage, is important to me. And it just got to that point where I don’t want to do that,’ he shared.
Understanding that reducing Joe’s libido ‘from 100 to zero’ would not be true to the programme.
‘I signed this contract, I signed up for this show, I know what I did. You can’t take this aspect out of the DNA of the concept,’ he added.
Penn went on to explain that Sera ‘didn’t even bat an eye’ and was ‘glad’ that he had been honest about what he wanted.
‘She had a really positive response.’
Penn returned with a ‘phenomenal decrease,’ explaining that he was grateful that his request was taken so seriously.
Aside from romance, Joe has a few other things on his mind as he is being pursued by a stalker who is seeking to frame him for a series of murders.
But it wouldn’t be You without some form of obsession, so we can expect lots of twists and turns as Joe searches for his next victim.
You is streaming on Netflix, with part 2 dropping on March 9.