Here's What Penn Badgley Has to Say to Everyone in Love With His *You* Character
Warning: Minor You spoilers ahead.
One of the most bizarre things to come from Netflix’s hit series You is the amount of people attracted to Penn Badgley’s character, Joe, who, if you’re unfamiliar, is both a stalker and a murderer. The show, which originally aired on Lifetime but has found a new home on Netflix, hinges on Joe’s creepy, obsessive tendencies. He’s a bookstore clerk who develops a Fatal Attraction–level interest in an aspiring writer named Beck (Elizabeth Lail). Joe begins tracking Beck on the Internet to learn more about her, which leads to burglary, manipulation, and ultimately murder. Yup: Joe literally kills the people in Beck’s life who he believes are a threat to their relationship. He’s not a redeemable character by any means, but droves of fans are into him because he’s…hot?
It’s a head-scratching situation that even Badgley chimed in on via Twitter. “Said this already but @PennBadgley is breaking my heart once again as Joe. What is it about him?” one person tweeted, to which the actor responded, “He’s a murderer.” One fan even asked Badgley to “kidnap” them. His response? “No thx.”
Below, check out just a few people who are, for some reason, all aboard the Joe train.
In a new interview with Today, Badgley offers a little more insight into why people are attracted to Joe. On his now-viral tweets responding to people’s thirst, he says, “That was partly disingenuous on my part because the whole point is [Joe’s] meant to garner a conflicted reaction…. I was doing that on Twitter very tongue-in-cheek.”
As for why fans are latching onto Joe, though, Badgley has a more cerebral analysis. “I don’t see him as a portrayal of a real person, I see him as a representation of the part of us that identifies with him,” he says. “The part of us that is a troll; that part of us that is victim blaming; the part of us that is privileged and blind. We’re meant to identify with him.”
Watch his full interview for yourself, below.
For the record: It’s probably not wise to swoon over Dan Humphrey on Gossip Girl or Joe from You. Badgley’s character from John Tucker Must Die, however, is someone I support 100 percent.
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