- If I could name it, exactly what it is
that makes the show so popular, I don't know.
Apart from it being about love, which, you know,
everybody's interested in,
starring me, which is, you know, something,
and then you get some violence, you know,
which everybody wants to see evidently.
Get some sex in there.
You know, it's like baking a cake.
You gotta have your basic ingredients,
and then it's just how you mix it together
and how long you put it in the oven.
And how hot the temperature is, how long you preheat.
Have you preheated the baking sheet? Is my question.
Is the pan hot?
And are you using frosting?
These are all metaphors.
This isn't random.
There's Easter eggs in the season.
You go in, you're gonna be like, "Oh,
"that's what he was saying."
Hey, MTV News! I'm Penn Badgley from 'You.'
These are the top five things
that I have learned from playing Joe.
The first thing I learned
from Joe is don't hide a key in the box.
Here's why.
Joe hides a key in the box.
This is how he gets out.
I think that's pretty simple. [Laughs]
Number two, how to dance on TikTok.
Playing Joe is like being in a straight jacket.
What you don't realize is a lotta times,
I'm not moving or speaking.
You think a lot's happening because there's a big voiceover.
Mm, it's not the case.
I'm often standing bones straight, dead still,
in boots that have wooden soles and are very uncomfortable.
And about two and a half months into the season,
I usually have back problems. And I have to be quiet,
which is actually really hard to do for that long.
What was the thing I learned?
Ah, yes, how to dance on TikTok.
Dancing on TikTok is a way to relieve stress
when you have to play Joe Goldberg half the year.
The third thing I learned
from playing Joe Goldberg is how bat(beep) crazy y'all are.
Do I need to say anything else?
Basically, all of Twitter, you know what I'm saying.
I'm talking to you.
[Laughs]
You know what makes me nervous is when
there's a surprising number of guys who, like, meaning well,
and like, you know, God bless 'em.
I'm not judging 'em right now.
But they'll be like, they're like.
"Dude, I love you on 'You!'
"Like, you're my spirit animal, man!"
It's like, "Mm, OK."
And then there's, of course, you know, the women
who are just like, "Oh my god, I love Joe.
"Help me find a man like Joe."
I'm like, "No, I can't.
"I can't do that.
"I can't help you there."
Number four, that I can't wear a hat in public.
End of discussion.
I can't really wear a hat in public.
It's more conspicuous.
Well, I mean, to be fair, sure, sometimes it works,
but then other times, somebody will run up to me
and be like, "Oh man, I wasn't sure, but then I saw the hat
"and I knew." [Laughs]
You know, so that's an interesting rub.
I mean, if I was ever worried that I wasn't going to outgrow
or outlive Dan Humphrey's reign,
I think I've discovered just how
to dismember Dan Humphrey, bury his body parts
in different parts of the tri-state area. [Laughs]
The last thing I learned,
and this is gonna really shock you,
just gonna just really bring it home.
I learned the power of prayer.
I'm not kidding.
That is my number one approach to Joe.
I use that tool more than any other,
both to ground myself after I've had to play him,
but also to ground myself in preparation to play him
because what I have to do is, it's really heavy.
You know what I mean?
It's pretty heavy.
Even though the show is outlandish and campy
in a lot of ways, I have to ground it. And it's hard.
It's taxing, physically and emotionally and spiritually.
And so, you know, I'm mean, prayer and meditation are two tools
that I have learned to rely on,
yeah, probably more than ever.
I mean, I don't know if I'd want to do a rom-com
or a Christmas movie, but I would love to do something
in the realm of, like, journalistic enterprise.
Like, you know, something
that's exploring a real-life event.
Two projects come to mind.
One is literally a story of journalists and that's 'Spotlight.'
And then more recently, "Chernobyl,"
which was very intense.
But, like, I don't mind being intense.
I think it's just hard to play literally a killer.
That's exhausting. I don't wanna do that.
[Laughs]
Season four differs from the previous seasons because, well,
I mean, we changed the genre in the beginning.
In the beginning, it's a whodunit.
It's a murder mystery, which you don't realize
is actually quite different.
There's no mystery.
We always know who it is, right?
It's Joe. Like, we know what's going on,
it's a mystery as to what's going to happen.
But a whodunit's a very different format.
And so, basically, we see Joe
possibly becoming a hero,
but that's very uncomfortable.
So then what does that mean?
He's becoming a hero only in as much
as he's trying to catch a killer now, right?
So then, of course, there are two parts,
and part two is even very different from that.
I think people who stick with it this year
are gonna be very pleasantly surprised.
If there were to be a season five,
I wanna see Joe brought to justice.
I wanna see Joe brought to justice,
but, of course, that is a big question.
What does that mean?
Is it as simple as death or prison?
Is reformation possible?
Is redemption possible?
You know, I wanted to see him brought to justice.
Where does that happen?
Nowhere. Mars.
Next. [Laughs]
We'll see. We'll have to see.
I literally have no idea.