The First Teaser For You's Final Season Hints At Jenna Ortega Returning As Ellie
She has some unfinished business with Joe.
Joe Goldberg is about to get a blast from the past in the final season of You. Ever since Season 2 ended with Jenna Ortega’s character Ellie disappearing, fans have wondered if and when she may return. There had already been talk about Ellie coming back to confront Joe when You was renewed for its fifth and final season, and a new teaser has added even more fuel to that fire.
Penn Badgley teased the climactic new season of You in a short video message during Netflix’s Tudum event on June 17. Season 5 isn’t expected to stream for quite some time, so sadly, fans didn’t get to see any new footage. But the clip did emphasize that characters from past seasons will be returning now that Joe has returned to New York City and dropped his aliases.
“We all know there are many loose ends from Joe's past,” Badgley said. “The question is, ‘Who are you?’” The question was followed by a quick montage of important characters from past seasons: Joe’s Season 1 therapist Dr. Nicky, his short Season 1 fling Karen, his first mentee Paco, the baby son he abandoned Henry, the nosy neighbors he trapped Sherry and Cary, his socialite ally Lady Phoebe, and his student who finally figured him out Nadia. But the most notable part of the montage was Ellie, Joe’s L.A. neighbor whom he’d been having to financially support from afar after she started a new life in Florida.
Though Ellie has been a character who has long been theorized to return to You, given all the information she has about Joe’s murderous rampage, she was completely absent from both Season 3 and Season 4. Showrunner Sera Gamble confirmed that this was due to Jenna Ortega’s increased demand following the success of Wednesday, which prevented her from being able to return for a planned Season 4 storyline.
But now that You is coming to an end, it looks like a lot of familiar faces will be popping back up in Joe’s life again, including Ellie. These comebacks don’t just make sense thematically as a way to close out Joe’s story, they have also been perfectly set up in the You world by Season 4’s finale. The penultimate season ended with Joe taking off his baseball cap at long last and returning to New York City without an alias... and even telling his life story to a journalist to make sure everyone knows he’s alive and well. With such a splashy announcement, it only makes sense for the people Joe’s burned in the past to track him down for some revenge.
