Penn Badgley Calls Out Netflix for Glorifying Serial Killers (Exclusive)

Drew Barrymore received an unforgettable birthday surprise, courtesy of “You” star Penn Badgley.

You.Maybe it’s the way Penn Badgley looks with or without a beard. Or maybe it’s the show’s funny, yet cutting satire on the people we suffer through every day.But damn, four seasons in, You (★★★★☆), Netflix’s series about a sociopath who obsesses over women, still hits that same perverse spot it did to make it one of the streamer’s best in recent years.Originally a Lifetime Original adapted from Caroline Kepnes’s book series, You was brought to the screen by producing giants Greg Berlanti and Sera Gamble, who installed former Gossip Girl star Penn Badgley as the lead.After one season aired on Lifetime, the show migrated to Netflix, where it blew up and has remained a permanent fixture since season two.Badgley stars as Joe Goldberg, a troubled sociopath with inclinations for becoming obsessed with random women, ingratiating himself into their lives, and then killing anyone who gets in his way.On paper, this seems like a strange recommendation in the #MeToo era, but You‘s greatest strength has become its humor, focusing on entertainment and sardonic musings on everyday life from a truly messed up man.Over the first three seasons, Joe traveled across the coasts, going from being a bookstore manager in New York to a young dad in suburban California.

Breaking Bad, describing the part as “the one that got away”.The You star was asked in a new interview with Buzzfeed to name a role fans would be surprised that he auditioned for but didn’t get.“One I got close on was Breaking Bad,” Badgley said. “It was between me and Aaron Paul, we tested.” Paul ended up getting the role of crystal meth cook and dealer Jesse Pinkman in the hit series, which aired for five seasons between 2008 to 2013.Actually, that was the best television script I’d read at that point,” added Badgley.

Had things gone another way, Penn Badgley would have played Jesse Pinkman alongside Bryan Cranston in “Breaking Bad”.

Penn Badgley saying no to sex scenes in YOU Season 4 has gone down well but would an actress have had the same luxury? If you are as eagle-eyed as Joe Goldberg from Netflix’s psychological thriller YOU, you may have noticed the subtle but significant dialling down of raunchier scenes the show was famous for in earlier seasons. It turns out this is because the former Gossip Girl star asked to do as few sex scenes as possible out of respect for his wife Domino Kirke.

Ever since Netflix‘s Dahmer docuseries hit the streaming platform, idolization of serial killers has been a huge topic on social media. It’s something that’s been around for as long as killers have existed — for whatever reason people feel drawn to these murderers and some even go as far as dating or marrying their chosen slayer. What happens when this admiration goes too far? Well, there are some serious consequences…

You star Penn Badgley has said his character would “probably despise” Taylor Swift.When asked about his first effort at a TikTok video in conversation with Variety, Badgley discussed having set the song to Taylor Swift’s recent single ‘Anti-Hero’.Badgley lip-syncs to the song on TikTok, with the clip having gone viral and Swift commenting “OMG!!!!” on the social media platform.However, the actor said that his character Joe Goldberg “probably despises” Taylor Swift, despite one episode of You containing a reference to the pop icon.“I think, unfortunately, he would despise her,” Badgley said. “Because she’s successful and blonde, maybe? I don’t know, but I think he would.”In a four-star review of You season four part one, NME wrote: “Yes, it’s all very silly, but it’s also surprisingly gripping and consistently witty.”Penn Badgley recently revealed he requested to have no unnecessary sex scenes in the recent season of You, due to his marriage to singer Domino Kirke.Speaking on the podcast Podcrushed, Badgley said: “I asked Sera Gamble, the creator of the show, ‘Can I just do no more intimacy scenes?’“This was actually a decision I had made before I took the show.

in the fame department after Gossip Girl first premiered in the mid-aughts. Obviously, this was only heightened after tabloids caught wind of his . Stressful as this period was, Badgley said that dating Lively may have saved him from going down a destructive path. Plenty of young stars from this era have been open about dealing with substance abuse (, , , etc.), but Badgley said in an interview with that he never really did.

Creating boundaries. Penn Badgley, Neal McDonough and more stars have candidly discussed their decisions not to film sex scenes in future projects.

While Dan and Serena made it down the aisle on Gossip Girl, Penn Badgley and Blake Lively called it quits long before the 2012 series finale.

Serial killer Joe Goldberg is resisting an offer of friendship by the Eat The Rich killer in part two of season four.In a trailer for the next chapter, Rhys Montrose (Ed Speleers) attempts to get closer to Goldberg after his identity as the Eat The Rich killer is unveiled.But Joe (Penn Badgley), who has made an effort to stop his murderous ways, is weary of getting closer with Rhys, who is aware of his killing past. The sneak peek begins with Joe (Penn Badgley) finding Rhys sitting by a fire. 'What do you want?' he asks in a measured tone. Rhys turns to face him and replies: 'Isn't it obvious? I want a friend.' Suspense: Serial killer Joe Goldberg is resisting an offer of friendship by the Eat The Rich killer in part two of season four'As someone who shares my interests, someone I can finally tell my secrets to,' he continues. 'I care about you, Joe,' he insists. Joe, who has started a new life under the alias Professor Jonathan Moore in London, seems suspicious of Rhys.  'This is over, right?' Joe asks him over beers.'Over?' he repeats.

Penn Badgley credits his co-star and ex-girlfriend, Blake Lively, with keeping him on the right track as his fame was on the rise.In a new interview with, Badgley opens up about his three-year romance with Lively, who played his character Dan Humphrey's on-screen love interest, Serena van der Woodsen.The pair started dating in real life in 2007 at the start of the teen drama's run.“Beyond our relationship, I don’t think anybody was going to be interested in me publicly,” Badgley says, adding of his overnight fame, “It was a little bit night and day. I think the date was Sept.

Penn Badgley looked as dashing as ever as he posed for a striking Variety shoot to promote the fourth season of his serial killer drama, You.The actor, 36, who plays murderous former bookstore manager Joe Goldberg in the Netflix sensation, cut an edgy figure as he posed in tailored suits, before making rare comments about his previous relationship with Gossip Girl co-star Blake Lively, 35.Penn dated Blake from 2007-2010, after meeting on the set of the hit show where Penn played Dan Humphrey and Blake portrayed Serena van der Woodsen,Penn, who is now married to Domino Kirke, 39 and is father to son James, two - credited Blake's teetotal lifestyle with 'saving him' from forcing himself to experiment with drugs and alcohol.Discussing how he felt a 'dark undercurrent that would bottom out in my later 20s' as he dealt with his newfound fame, he said: 'To be honest, I never struggled with substance.

Netflix is still releasing pretty much everything (outside of some reality shows) in their patented binge model. All of the episodes, all at once.

Penn Badgley doesn’t actually need to be on the internet to stoke his popularity. He’s already the internet’s boyfriend, and has been since the original “Gossip Girl” premiered in 2007. Badgley became famous at the exact moment when the celebrity-industrial complex, fed by the toxic brew of the gossip sites TMZ and Perez Hilton, was at its most pernicious — which was the same moment that teenagers everywhere got their hands on their first iPhones. “‘Gossip Girl,’ if you think about it, wouldn’t have happened at any other time,” Badgley says. “That was the spirit of the show: It was Perez. It was TMZ.” Badgley made it through that poisonous period intact. But now, when it comes to joining social media platforms, he is, understandably, apprehensive. Twitter used to suit Badgley best, he being a news-obsessed man of words, but that’s changed: “I can’t really spend much time on that platform anymore,” he says. Instagram, too, feels “a bit too much like standing on a stage and trying to present,” and Badgley doesn’t need that type of exposure.

the second half of season 4 on Wednesday, revealing the return of Joe's very dead wife, Love Quinn (Victoria Pedretti), from the second and third seasons. The surprising resurrection(?) came in the final moments of the haunting two-minute trailer as Joe (Penn Badgley) approaches the glass cage -- only to be met face to face with Love, who up until that moment is seen casually reading a book.

SPOILER ALERT: This article contains spoilers for “You” Season 4, Part 1. The story’s not over yet for America’s favorite serial killer in London. Netflix dropped the trailer Wednesday for the final episodes of “You” Season 4. When viewers last left the clandestine criminal, Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley) had just unraveled the identity of a fellow London-based serial killer. Despite avowing to put his days of murder behind him, Joe finds himself at the center of yet another mystery when the members of his posh new friend group start turning up dead. Four bodies have already dropped and there’s no sign of the death count slowing down anytime soon with author-turned-murderer Rhys Montrose (Ed Speleers) on the loose.

“I’m not some cold-blood psycho killer.” To which all fans of Netflix’s You would say, sure Joe, sure.