You's Penn Badgley Has An Admirable Reason For Requesting Fewer NSFW Scenes In Season 4

The 4th season of Netflix's hit thriller series "You" has officially dropped. Well, the first half of the 4th season has dropped, with Part 2 slated to hit the platform on March 9, 2023. Still, with five episodes of the new installment under its belt, it seems viewers are still very much intrigued by the sexy, obsessive, and frequently murderous misadventures of stalker extraordinaire and all-around creep Joe Goldberg. But "You" fans are no doubt noticing Joe's adventures are considerably less sexy this go around. And it turns out the choice to dial back his libidinous nature was made at the request of series star Penn Badgley. 

Badgley himself owned up to that fact during a recent episode of his "Podcrushed" podcast, telling his co-hosts, "I asked Sera Gamble, creator of the show, 'Can I just do no more intimacy scenes?'" According to the actor, he'd made a decision to go less sexy in his work even before he signed on to "You," largely for the sake of changing his career track. Badgley rose to prominence portraying the hunky Dan Humphrey on The CW's hit teen drama "Gossip Girl." And at this point in his career, he's apparently looking to play more than a pretty face in the projects he chooses. Career track aside, Badgley went on to say there was another, far more admirable reason for wanting to tone down the NSFW content of his scenes on "You."

While speaking about his shortage of steamy scenes in the new season of "You," Penn Badgley told his "Podcrushed" pals he sought to temper them moving forward in part out of respect for his wife, the singer and actor Domino Kirke. "Fidelity, in every relationship, and especially my marriage, is important to me," Badgley admitted, continuing, "And it just got to that point where I don't want to do that." 

That noble sentiment will no doubt earn a universal "Awwww" from Badgley's fans. And for his part, the actor claims he would've been happy to perform zero scenes of intimacy in "You" moving forward. He is, however, also very aware of how much that aspect of Joe is tied into the show's overarching narrative. "I signed this contract, I signed up for this show, I know what I did," Badgley said, adding, "You can't take this aspect out of the DNA of the concept." The actor still found the guts to take his wish for fewer scenes of intimacy to "You" co-creator Sera Gamble. And Gamble was apparently very open to the shift, with Badgley claiming, "She had a really positive response. She appreciated my directness and she appreciated that I was also being reasonable and practical. And they came back with a phenomenal reduction."

In moderating the steamy underbelly of Joe's life, "You" series creatives wisely focus more time on developing the story and characters. And thus far, it's hard to argue that switch isn't paying off in spades.