You season 4 part 1 (and a little part 2) spoilers follow.
Hello, You. Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley) is back with a new identity, a new love interest... and a new serial killer to go head-to-head with.
Fleeing the California carnage of season three to make a new life in London, Joe's hopes for a new life in the UK were fleeting, as he found himself in the crosshairs of the 'Eat The Rich' killer, who was determined to become best buds with him.
Now Joe knows their identity, what does he plan to do next?
As we wait patiently for part two, here's everything you need to know – from what to expect to how long exactly you have to wait...
You season 4 part 2 release date on Netflix: When will it air?
The first five episodes of You season four dropped on Netflix on February 9, 2023. But we have to wait a whole month to find out what happens next in Joe’s story, with You season four part two scheduled to drop on March 9, 2023.
What to Read Next
Filming for season four officially commenced on March 22, 2022 in London, and the Netflix team shared a clapperboard from the set with the date on it. Naturally, the board was dripping in blood… because after all, this is Joe we're talking about.
Locations in England included Knebworth House in Hertfordshire, which doubles for Lady Phoebe's country estate, and Royal Holloway, University of London, which was used as the setting for the college where Joe – going by the name Professor Jonathan Moore – teaches.
You season 4 part 2 cast: Who will be in it?
The cast of characters for season four of You started off quite large – but, surprise, surprise, a few of them didn'’t make it to the end of part one.
Once you remove those who have been stabbed, chopped up and disposed of in various unsavoury ways, the characters that are still alive (and presumably in part two) include:
• Penn Badgley as Joe Goldberg – because You wouldn't be You without him.
• Charlotte Ritchie as Kate, who we last saw asking Joe out on a date. He turned her down because he has other things on his mind – most notably the 'Eat The Rich' killer who killed Kate's boyfriend and friends, and has been murder-texting Joe.
• Lukas Gage as Adam – the hard-partying son of a wealthy American family and part of Kate's circle of super-rich friends.
• Tilly Keeper as Lady Phoebe – Kate's best friend, who escaped the fire at her country estate and knows at least some of Kate and Joe's secrets.
• Amy Leigh-Hickman as Nadia – another of Kate's wealthy (and pretty awful) friends.
• Ben Wiggins as Roald – obsessed with Kate, Roald really, really doesn't like Joe and it's unlikely that will change, even though Joe saved him from the country house fire.
• Ed Speleers as Rhys – mayoral candidate and, as it turns out, the 'Eat The Rich' killer who wanted to frame Joe for his crimes.
There's also the chance Tati Gabrielle could return again as Joe's season three obsession Marianne, although it feels like her encounter with Joe in the first part of the new season has brought their relationship to a neat conclusion.
You season 4 part 2 plot: What's going to happen?
When asked about the direction of season four, Penn Badgley told Entertainment Tonight: "The tone is similar but it's shifting in that there is a different format. We're using a different format. It's almost like we're shifting the genre slightly. And I think it works."
Shooting across the pond seems to have had an influence. Badgley joked that "it's cheaper" when explaining how the show's setting moved from Paris (where we saw Joe at the end of season three, stalking Marianne) to London.
Of his character development, he added: "The problem is in him, it's not so much outside of him so he's trying to change. He is always trying, failing, trying." Poor serial killer Joe, he just can't catch a break.
Of course, we now know some of season four's story, but episode five of part one has left much to be explored in part two.
Joe, who has been trying really hard to be good – or at least, less murderous – since his move to London has nonetheless found himself surrounded by dead bodies that need disposing of, including his college colleague Malcolm, and Kate's friend Gemma.
After a very revealing trip to the countryside, Joe now knows that it is Rhys who has been killing off the rich and privileged, with the intention of framing Joe for his crimes.
That's worrying enough, but with Rhys also planning to become London's mayor, Joe realises he may soon have a very powerful foe on his hands. With the pair both back in London, it looks like there could be a serial killer showdown on the cards before the end of the season.
There are other storylines to be resolved, too.
Kate may have hated Joe to begin with, but she has thawed to his psychopathic charms (she doesn't know about his murderous past, which could be a passion killer) and even asked him – or at least Joe's alias, Jonathan – out on a date at the end of episode five.
It remains to be seen whether Joe lets Kate past his defences, but there is a chance that her association with Joe could put her in danger – not just from him, but from Rhys and also her jealous friend Roald, too. (We'd suggest Kate adds some locks to her front door, and to her knife drawer, too.)
There could also be more to learn about Joe's son Henry, whom he left with neighbour Dante and his husband at the end of season three. Joe has mentioned to Kate that he has a son – a possible sign that he does trust her, at least a little – and it's already clear that Henry has changed his outlook on life.
Before the launch of season four, You showrunner Sera Gamble spoke about how Joe's abandoning of Henry could play into the new season.
She told E! News: "You can't pretend something that huge about a character didn't happen. I think it will shape him from this moment forward. And even his exact plan of when and if he would return for his son is something that we will… come together and talk about for hours and hours and hours between snacks."
Gamble has also talked about her plans for the fourth season. "I feel like season three is a season of a huge amount of just loss and tragedy for him," she said (via Collider). "And we leave him having lost or felt like he had to let go of everything he cared about really.
"So the story from here is about how he gets any of that back or how he finds something else, because if the Joe you met in the first scene of the pilot, where the bell rings in the book shop, and then the girl in the jeans walks in, if he had one hole he wanted to fill in his heart, now he has like 17.
"So we've been with him longer, so we know more about his baggage, right? So I think there's a lot of that to explore."
Whatever happens in season four, you can expect the same unique tone from You that we've come to know and be totally creeped out by.
"I was very relieved when the first season of the show came out, and that we had pulled off the tone of the show where people understood how sort of cheeky and subversive we were being about things I considered to be pretty serious," Gamble added.
"So what I hope is that people not only enjoy it and are like, 'That was f**king nuts,' but also maybe have a conversation about some of the stuff inside of us that is kind of dark, and we want to judge it and say, 'It's not inside us,' but it's in all..."
"People are not perfect. We're not even nice inside of our heads. Most of us don't kill anybody, but I don't know. Does it sound really Pollyanna if I say, I hope people are a little kinder to themselves about the uglier thoughts in their head? Because they're watching it, and they're like, 'Well, I'm kind of charmed by his ugly thoughts.'"
Penn Badgley added his thoughts on You season four to Collider, saying: "I think it might be more about Joe's relationship with himself. Because this isn't really a show about a murderer, this is a show about... I think it's taking the mistakes that we make in relationships to the extreme for the sake of a good story.
"Like, we really need to lay down our swords and stop being competitive in relationships, but that's very hard to do."
Netflix hasn't revealed whether season four will be the show's final outing. But if season four part two does spell the end for Joe, we'd also expect it to mark the end of You.
Author Caroline Kepnes is working on her fourth novel in the series, For You and You Only, due to be published later this year. It's unclear how they'll match up because the TV show has already deviated from the source material in a number of ways.
This is what Kepnes told THR when asked what readers can expect from her upcoming novel: "He's [Joe] going to a new place and a dream that he didn't allow himself to have, he's going to get to experience it."
You season 4 part 2 trailer: When can I watch it?
The You season four part two trailer dropped on February 15 and oh boy, did it raise more questions than answers.
Most important was the return of one face from the past... Joe's very dead (or at least so we thought) ex-wife, Love Quinn (Victoria Pedretti).
Joe fled from his life with Love at the end of season three, even cutting off his toe to fake his own death as he burned his house to the ground.
So how the hell is she now in England... in one of his glass cases no less?
That's before we even get into the new, tangled mess he's found himself in with Rhys Montrose playing him like a puppet to do his bidding, and his potential romance with Kate.
And don't even get us started on the actual mess that is his uber-entitled friendship group.
Let the games begin!
You seasons 1-3 and part 1 of season 4 are available on Netflix now. Season 4 part 2 premieres on March 9.
Netflix/Left Bank Pictures The Crown season 3 with Amazon exclusive box artwork
Freelancer writer
Sam is an entertainment writer with NCTJ accreditation and a twenty-year career as a film journalist.
Starting out as a staff writer at Total Film, moving up to Deputy Online Editor, Sam was responsible for Total Film’s YouTube channel, where he revolutionised the magazine’s approach to video junkets, creating influential formats that spread to other outlets.
He’s interviewed a wide range of film icons, including directors such as David Lynch, Quentin Tarantino, Paul Thomas Anderson, Sofia Coppola, Ridley Scott, Michael Bay and Sam Raimi, as well as actors such as Meryl Streep, Nic Cage, Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Anne Hathaway, Margot Robbie, Natalie Portman, Kermit the Frog, all of the Avengers and many more.
Sam has also interviewed several comic creators, including Stan Lee, Alan Moore, Grant Morrison, and he has a zombie cameo in The Walking Dead comic.
In 2014, Sam went freelance, working directly for film studios including Warner Brothers, 20th Century Fox and Disney, as well as covering red carpet events for film marketing company PMA Productions.
Sam is the co-host, producer and editor of the Arrow Video podcast, which has seen year-on-year growth since its creation in 2017, gaining over half a million listens in that time.
His byline has appeared in outlets such as Yahoo, MTV, Dazed, Esquire, Harper’s Bazaar, Cosmopolitan, Elle, and Good Housekeeping among others.
In 2012, Sam made it to the final of the Leicester Square Theatre New Comedian of the Year competition, and went on to become a filmmaker himself, directing three features that have all played major festivals, and secured distribution – starring in two of them.
Jim Carrey once mistook Sam for Johnny Cash, and John Carpenter told him to ‘Keep up the good work.’ He promises to try his best.
TV writer, Digital Spy Janet completed her Masters degree in Magazine Journalism in 2013 and has continued to grow professionally within the industry ever since. For six years she honed her analytical reviewing skills at the Good Housekeeping institute eventually becoming Acting Head of Food testing. She also freelanced in the field of film and TV journalism from 2013-2020, when she interviewed A-List stars such as Samuel L Jackson, Colin Firth and Scarlett Johansson. In 2021 she joined Digital Spy as TV writer where she gets to delve into more of what she loves, watching copious amounts of telly all in the name of work. Since taking on the role she has conducted red carpet interviews with the cast of Bridgerton, covered the BAFTAs and been interviewed by BBC Radio and London Live. In her spare time she also moonlights as a published author, the book Gothic Angel.
