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You Season 4 isn’t even over yet, but it’s hard not to think about season 5. And when you get to season 5, thoughts inevitably turn to the end. While some shows get into the double digits, it’s not unreasonable to expect season 4 to be more than past the halfway point. Showrunner Sera Gamble doesn’t know the end for sure, but she has ideas about it and a potential You season 5.

'You': Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley) wears a vest as a London professor
Penn Badgley | Netflix

Gamble was a guest on The Hollywood Reporter’s TV’s Top Five podcast on Feb. 10 to discuss You Season 4 Part 1. She did look ahead to You Season 5 and the series finale. But first, You Season 4 Part 2 premieres March 9.

There is a plan for ‘You’ Season 5 if Netflix agrees

Netflix has not announced a renewal for You Season 5. That’s fair. They could be waiting to see the numbers on You Season 4 Part 2. But, should Netflix come calling, Gamble has a plan. Beyond that, she’s not so sure. 

“We have an idea for season 5 that we’re excited about and also it was never anyone’s intention to just run this one into the ground,” Gamble said on TV’s Top Five. “When we’re done, we’ll be done. We’ll pack it up and it will exist on Netflix for everyone to enjoy. Even in the early conversations with Penn, the idea is not to just crank out episodes forever. It’s to feel like we have told the complete story.”

There’s precedent for Joe meeting a tragic end 

Even though Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley) is the protagonist of You, he has stalked and murdered people. Sometimes, his partner has been even worse. For season 4, Joe is trying to go straight. However, Gamble suspects Joe’s bill will come due eventually. 

“Even though I feel like tonally we’re very different, we’re really not trying to sell Joe as any kind of a hero with a straight face,” Gamble said. “This is a show that is in the tradition of these single lead shows with a guy who does increasingly bad things. We could name two or three off the top of our heads. The beautiful thing about it is when his arc is complete, so is the show.”

Until then, Joe’s story can continue as You Season 5. Gamble won’t spoil it, but the end of season 4 part 2 will reveal where Joe is headed next.

“You’ll know what the next season would be when you see the end of this season,” Gamble said. “We tell you. We tell you what the idea is.”

Each season of ‘You’ shows Joe in a new light 

Gamble pointed out that when she began producing You, author Caroline Kepnes was working on a second book. The show has moved past the books, but still follows a pattern.

“When we pitched it we said, ‘New world, new love each season,’” Gamble said. “Different facet of looking at obsession and as we got into starting to really write it, we realized okay, so we’re going to do a different kind of a romance, a romantic comedy each season and then we are going to do a different kind of thriller each season. We’re going to lay them on top of each other and that’s going to be what makes the picture 3D if you will. So we, in order to sell the show, we pitched out options for how this could go a few seasons down the line.”