Penn Badgley and Charlotte Ritchie share steamy kiss on set of YOU's final series
With filming for the fifth and final series of Netflix drama YOU now well underway, show lead Penn Badgley has already been getting fans hot under the collar as she was spotted passionately kissing his co-star Charlotte Ritchie while filming a steamy scene in New York. The smash-hit series follows the exploits of serial killer Joe Goldberg, played by Penn, as he becomes obsessively fanatical about his love interests and proceeds to kill anyone that stands in his way of pursuing a lasting romance - including more than once, the source of his affection themselves.
The upcoming season is set to pick up where season four left off, with Penn’s character happily engaged in a relationship with Charlotte’s character Kate, a wealthy socialite who is more than aware of his murderous tendencies and has even used her financial upper hand to protect him from the law.
In new images from set, it appears Joe and Kate are living the high life in their new home of New York, with the pair sharing a steamy kiss together while dressed to the nines at a red carpet event. Prim and polished from top to toe in a stylish black suit, Penn looked worlds away from Joe’s humble beginnings as a book seller as he experienced a taste of aristocratic glamour.
Former Call the Midwife actress Charlotte looked equally stunning, as her character Kate sported a glamorous floor length gown heavily adorned with beads and sequins, for the romantic tryst between the pair. Although the kiss itself does appear to be amping up the sex appeal once again, fans hoping to see the show return to it’s sultrier beginnings may be disappointed, as Penn previously expressed his intense discomfort when acting out the sex scenes on screen.
For the first three series of the show, Joe’s romance played heavily on the physical intimacy of his infatuations, with plenty of raunchy sex scenes scattered throughout the plot, however from season four onwards the show has taken a more psychological approach to the relationships, with a dialled back degree of intimacy unfolding on screen.
Speaking to Variety back in 2023, Penn explained: “It’s important to me in my real life to not have them.”
When asked to clarify what he meant, the star responded: “My fidelity in my relationship. It’s important to me. And actually, it was one of the reasons that I initially wanted to turn the role down. I didn’t tell anybody that. But that is why.”
Interestingly, it was actual Penn’s wife of seven years, Domino Kirke-Badgley that encouraged him to take on the role, and also the supportive shoulder he could rely on when he asked show producers to dial down the number of sex scenes - something it turns out, they were surprisingly receptive to.
“I’m always very practical. I said I know it can’t be none, because there’s something coded into the DNA of the show, and I signed the contract, and so it is what it is but as little as possible would be my preference,” he told the publication.
But as a result of his conversation, the show was able to drastically cut down the number of sex scenes in You, with the ones that did make the cut were always fully clothed.
