Penn Badgley asked to do "zero" sex scenes in You season 4

10 February 2023, 16:53

Penn Badgley interviews Joe from You

By Sam Prance

Penn Badgley has explained why it was important for him to do less intimate scenes in You season 4.

Loading audio...

Penn Badgley has revealed that he made a request to stop doing sex scenes and nude scenes in You season 4 and beyond.

Ever since the first season of You came out in 2018, the show has become synonymous with wild sex scenes. From creepy masturbation scenes to premature ejaculation scenes, You covers it all and that's just in season 1. Over the course of the show, Penn Badgley has filmed many Joe Goldberg sex scenes and even had to "hump the air" in a dream sequence.

While You season 4 part 1 does have sex scenes, it's much less graphic and explicit than past seasons. Now, Penn has revealed that he personally asked showrunner Sera Gamble if he could do no sex scenes in the show going forward.

Penn Badgley asked to do "zero" sex scenes in You season 4. Picture: Netflix

Discussing sex scenes on his Podcrushed podcast, Penn stated: "I asked Sera Gamble, creator of the show, can I just do no more intimacy scenes. This is actually a decision I’d made before I took the show. I don’t think I’ve mentioned it publicly but one of the main things is, do I ever want to put myself back on a career path where I’m always the romantic lead?"

He then explained: "It’s really important to me, fidelity in every relationship, and especially my marriage. It just got to a point where I don’t want to do that. Of course, before I took the show, there was the question of 'Do I have a career if I don’t?'. I mean think about every male lead you've loved, are they kissing someone, are they doing a lot more than that?"

Penn continued: "I asked Sera Gamble, creator of the show, can I just do no more intimacy scenes. I said to Sera, my desire would be zero, to go from 100 to zero. But I signed up for this contract, I know what I did. You can't take this aspect out of the concept, so 'How much less can you make it?' was my question to them."

As for Sera's response, Penn said: "She didn't even bat an eye, she was really glad that I was that honest and she had a really positive response. She appreciated my directness and she appreciated that I was being reasonable and practical."

Penn ended by saying: "They came back with a phenomenal reduction."

SPOILER ALERT: Breaking Down Netflix's "YOU" Season 4: Part 1 | Podcrushed Podcast Bonus Episode

Sure enough, if you watch You season 4, there are far less sex scenes and it doesn't take away from the show. In fact, often when Joe has sex with another character on screen, the scene builds up to it, and then the camera pans away.

Hopefully, more actors and actresses feel comfortable speaking out in future when they don't want to film sex scenes.