You Season 5 Images Tease Joe’s Long-Awaited Downfall in Final Netflix Season

Joe Goldberg, the internet’s favorite stalker, might have finally found his match in the fifth season of Netflix’s You. Based on the series of novels by Caroline Kapnes, Netflix’s hit series follows Joe (Penn Badgely), a “romantic” who goes to extreme lengths to ensure his relationships work out — at least, that’s what some fans on the internet will have you believe. In reality, Joe Goldberg is a creep, a stalker, and a cold-blooded killer, and the show’s four seasons dive deep into the character’s psyche as he wrestles with guilt over his actions…while continuing to do them.

Details of the fifth and final season remain largely under wraps, but now, new set photos have emerged via X account @YouNetflixUpdte and show that Joe Goldberg’s infamous love story might be coming to an end. The leaked photos show Joe wearing a sharp suit, being escorted out of a fancy building by two police officers. Check out the photos below:

Many fans thought Season 4 (which streamed in 2023) would be the final season. Overridden with guilt, Joe attempts to take his own life by jumping into the River Thames from the Royal Victoria Dock, London. However, a major plot twist in the season’s final episode saw Joe alive, well, and back to his old ways. Thanks to his new partner Kate (Charlotte Ritchie) — who’s just as twisted as Joe — he now has the money and resources to go wherever and do whatever he wants.

Joe Goldberg Is Very Much the Villain in You

When You first released on Netflix in 2018, audiences fell in love with Badgley’s twisted character. Despite his creepy actions, which include blatant stalking, stealing personal and intimate items, and hacking personal accounts, Badgley’s performance and the show’s excellent writing still managed to trick audiences into rooting for Joe on his blood-soaked quest to find love. However, as the seasons have progressed, audiences have become wise to Joe’s antics, and now see the character as the psychotic killer he is.

While fans would have been heartbroken if Joe died in the earlier seasons, they were actively rooting for the character’s downfall by Season 4. Despite this, audiences didn’t want Joe to die, not out of love for the character, but because that woudl be too merciful a fate for such a despicable person.

While audiences have only recently begun objectively studying Joe Goldberg, one person has known how heinous and vile the character has been right from the start… actor Penn Badgely. No one detests Joe as much as the actor that portrays him. Speaking to Vanity Fair in 2019, Badgely said that the character doesn’t deserve a happy ending. Even when Joe has come out on top in each season by winning over (or killing) his love interest, his psychotic nature only leads him to form an attachment and obsession with someone new. Badgely knew this from the start, saying:

“We can’t lead ourselves to believe that if Joe would simply find the right person that he would be happy — because he’s a f*king murderer.”