Penn Badgley Wanted Zero Sex Scenes In You Season 4

Penn Badgley reprised his role as JoeGoldberg in You Season 4, which premiered on Netflix on Feb. 10, but he did have one hesitation when filming the show’s latest season. Apparently, Badgley isn’t thrilled with all of the sex scenes — and would prefer to do, well, none going forward. During a Feb. 8 episode of his Podcrushed podcast, Badgley explained why he didn’t want to do intimate scenes anymore, emphasizing the importance of “fidelity” in his marriage.

“I asked Sera Gamble, creator, ‘Can I just do no more intimacy scenes?’ This was actually a decision I made before I took the show. I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned it publicly, but one of the main things is, ‘Do I want to put myself back in a career path where I’m just always the romantic lead?’” the actor recalled on the podcast, per IndieWire. “Fidelity in every relationship and especially my marriage, is important to me, and it just got to a point where I don’t want to do that.” (Badgley has been married to Domino Kirke, singer, actor, and doula, since 2017.)

Badgley continued, “In the course before I took this show, it was a question: Do I have a career if I don’t? Think about every male lead you’ve loved. Are they kissing someone? Are they doing a lot more than that? And it’s really not my desire.”

Gamble kept Badgley’s concerns in mind for Season 4. “I said to Sera, ‘My desire would be zero, to go from a hundred to zero.’ But 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, so, ‘How much less can you make it?’ was my question to them,” he explained. “She didn’t even bat an eye. She was really glad that I was that honest and was sort of... almost empowered. She had a really positive response and she appreciated my directness and that I was also being reasonable and practical. They came back with a phenomenal reduction.”

Part 2 of You Season 4 will start streaming on Netflix on March 10.