Anna Daniels
Penn Badgley may have slightly loose lips when talking about the future of You, but neither he nor anyone else involved with the show has discussed explicit details about the plot of You season 3. The only concrete intel from which we can grease our speculation machines are what You series co-creator Sera Gamble has said about season 3, what You novel collection mastermind Caroline Kepnes has shared about what’s coming next, and what the You season 2 finale set up.
Ahead of You‘s sophomore season arriving on Netflix, Gamble teased to Cosmopolitan UK that the show’s team already had an idea in mind for season 3, and that she hoped they would have the opportunity to see that plan through to fruition. “I will say that we have an idea for season three that is SO exciting that people talk about it in the [writer’s] room every day,” she said. “So my fingers are crossed… I’ll just say, I hope we get the chance to keep making the show.”
Also thinking ahead is Kepnes, who was confirmed in May 2019 to be writing the third and fourth installments of her You novel series. The first season of the show adapted her 2014 book You, while the second translated the sequel novel Hidden Bodies for the small screen. While both took some creative liberties — for example, Hidden Bodies ended with Joe going to jail, which doesn’t happen on the Netflix series — it’s clear that as You continues, it will use Kepnes’ novels as source material.
Though she couldn’t reveal any juicy information about what the third You book entails, Kepnes did share with Entertainment Weekly in December 2019 that Joe has a new attitude this time around. “Joe is really proud of himself because a lot of people in his position descend into darkness after having been through what he’s gone through in book two and then in the beginning of book three. And he decides that he’s going to be a better person and he’s very proud of himself for that,” she said. “Having dealt with Love’s family and dating someone with this close relationship with their twin brother, he’s very focused on the idea that he should be the one with the family. But yeah, the main thrust of it is that he’s very proud of his strength.”
This seems to indicate that Joe might have his head screwed on straight (or as straight as it can be for a guy like him) on You season 3 if the episodes will closely follow Kepnes’ new story. However, the season 2 finale of the series suggests something else: that he’s going to fall into the same pit of obsession with his mysterious new neighbor that he did with Beck and Love. Granted, the start of season 2 saw Joe trying to be a better person — and season 3 may very well show him doing the right thing and taking care of Love and their child — but it seems basically guaranteed that he’ll slip back into his old bad habits, especially when remembering Badgley’s hint that Love isn’t “the same kind of person” now. Maybe Joe will grow bored of her and want someone more exciting? It’s happened twice before, so it doesn’t feel like a stretch to say that fans should expect more chaos, more dead bodies, and more Joe being, well, Joe on season 3 of You.
Written by: Looper
