You season 4 is sending serial killer and stalker Joe Goldberg to jolly old England. Netflix just confirmed that the drama will follow Joe’s murderous ways as he roams the streets of London (not Paris) looking for the latest object of his obsession. The show is also adding several new cast members for Joe to possibly terrorize and kill.
You, one of the best Netflix shows, has tracked Joe from New York City, where he murdered Guinevere Beck and several others, to Los Angeles, where he fell for Love Quinn and discovered she was just as unhinged as him. When she got pregnant, they got married and moved to the suburban nightmare of Madre Linda.
In season 3, Joe and Love welcomed a baby boy, Henry, but they simply could not stop adding to their body count. Their tense marriage ended explosively (literally) and Joe wound up in Paris, searching for his former boss and stalking target Marienne.
However, it seems his time in the City of Love doesn’t last, as Netflix shared images of Joe’s new reading material — Oliver Twist, Great Expectations, Vanity Fair and Sherlock Holmes.
Here’s everything we know so far about You season 4.
You season 4 release date speculation
Netflix has not set the You season 4 release date yet.
The streamer did give You season 4 the green light before the third installment even dropped. On October 13, Netflix released an announcement video for season 4:
So, when might You season 4 be released? Let’s look at the history of the show. Season 1 aired on Lifetime and it’s finale was in November 2018. Season 2 moved to Netflix and dropped in December 2019.
Season 3 was released nearly two years later, in October 2021, but we can chalk that up to pandemic-related filming delays. Film and television productions are mostly back on track, so it’s very possible You season 4 premieres as early as fall 2022.
You season 4 cast
The cast of You season 4 will be led by Penn Badgley as Joe Goldberg, a stalker and serial killer.
The events of season 3 indicate Victoria Pedretti will not return as Love Quinn, who seemingly perished in a fiery gas explosion set off by Joe. Of course, Pedretti could make an appearance in a flashback, dream sequence or vision.
Joe has disappeared (and is also presumed dead), so it’s unlikely season 4 will bring back most of the characters introduced in Madre Linda. The main exception is Tati Gabrielle as Marienne Bellamy, the librarian who is Joe’s boss and the latest target of his obsession. Joe has moved to Paris to track her down and, as we’ve seen before, he’s very good at that.
It is possible that Joe returns to California to check on his son, Henry, who he left with his library co-worker and his husband. They are Ben Mehl as Dante Ferguson and Noel Arthur as Lansing.
Another past face who could resurface is Saffron Burrows as Dottie Quinn, Love’s mother. Last we saw her, she was heading to rehab. Last we heard of her, she had yielded to Dante and Lansing in a custody battle for Henry. However, Dottie can be persistent, so she may pop up again.
Lastly, could Cardi B make a cameo on You season 4? The rapper and Badgley have made their mutual appreciation of each other well known on Twitter. And when Jimmy Kimmel asked the actor about the possibility of a Cardi B appearance, he said, “Well, I don’t know, I definitely can’t say. But there is actually — I believe this is true — there’s an actual Change.org petition.”
When Netflix changed its Twitter bio to read “Petition to get Cardi B to guest star in Season 4,” the singer responded (opens in new tab) with a pitch of her own:
As for new faces, Deadline (opens in new tab) claims that Euphoria star Lukas Gage has joined the cast of Netflix’s You show for the upcoming fourth season.
According to the source, Gage will reportedly play “an ex-pat American, the youngest son of a wealthy East-Coast magnate. He’s famous for spectacularly failing to meet the standards of his successful, venerable family. An entrepreneur and a gambler, Adam is a warm and funny party host and fast friend. But underneath, Adam is hiding a trove of secrets and papering over problems with heavy self-medication.”
Deadline (opens in new tab) also reported on several other new additions to the You season 4 cast. The site also has character descriptions:
Tilly Keeper as Lady Phoebe: “As sweet and kind as she is rich, famous, and chaotic, Phoebe’s every bikini wax has been documented by the tabloids since she was 15 years old. An aristocratic socialite with an avid fan base, Phoebe’s true colors show when she’s alone with her friends. She’s a steadfast cheerleader, especially to American entrepreneur boyfriend Adam. She’s also a wild card: when misfortune strikes, will she rise to the occasion, or shatter?”
Amy Leigh Hickman as Nadia: “A literature major with a love of genre storytelling and the aspiration to be a serious author, Nadia’s outspokenness and intensity are a perfect cover for the insecurities carried by a young woman who’s never been accepted by her peer group. She’s made some big mistakes; now, they threaten to destroy her life. She’ll need help, even if it’s from the wrong people.”
Ed Speleers as Rhys: “Dry, irreverent Rhys is an author whose memoir garnered him acclaim and pressure to launch a political career. Born into poverty, Rhys lived a traumatic early life before he came into money, going to Oxford and making all the right friends. Now, he moves easily in any social circle, while also seeing through those around him. He doesn’t have much time for partying, though he enjoys staying in touch with his eccentric circle of friends. After all, they were there for him in his troubled youth.”
You season 4 plot and story possibilities
You season 3 will pick up some time after the events of season 3, which ended with Joe living in Paris under the fake name Nick. He is searching for Marienne and her daughter, believing they fled to the City of Love.
“The whole You team is excited to explore new, dark facets of love in season 4,” creator and showrunner Sera Gamble told Deadline (opens in new tab).
However, Netflix revealed that Joe will move on to London. Perhaps he couldn’t locate Marienne … or maybe he did and she met the same deadly fate as his previous romantic targets. Now, he’s crossed the Channel to take on the Brits — and he’s reading Charles Dickens novels to prepare.
Gamble told TVLine (opens in new tab), “I would be excited to do a European season. I think that would be so fun. One of the questions we always ask on this show is, What pool of privileged douchebags do we want to throw Joe into next? And there are a lot of untapped pools around the world, if you just leave the borders of the United States.”
And there’s still the open question of his son, who’s back in Madre Linda. Joe will undoubtedly feel tremendous guilt about leaving his son in the same way his own mother left him.
“I think it will shape him from this moment forward,” Gamble told E! Online (opens in new tab). “And even his exact plan of when and if he would return for his son is something that [the writers] will…come together and talk about for hours and hours and hours between snacks.”
The other major question is whether Joe will ever face real repercussions for all the killing he’s done. “[We] like thinking about the possibility that he’ll be punished,” Gamble noted. “We frequently end up spinning out just these theoretical conversations about what the most fitting one would be. Should he be killed? Oh no, that would be too easy. Should he be in jail?”
