- The third season of Netflix's thriller series "
You " is debuting later this year. Penn Badgley revealed hints about season three in interviews and debunked a popular fan theory.- Badgley, who plays Joe, and Victoria Pedretti, who plays Love, will return for season 3.
- Warning: Spoilers for season two of "You" ahead.
Netflix's psychological thriller series "You" is set to return for a third season later this year.
From what characters we can expect to see in season three to who the mystery neighbor in the finale might be, read on for what we know so far about the much-anticipated third season of "You."
Warning: Spoilers for season two of "You" ahead.
Season 3 will be comprised of 10 episodes and the show's co-creators are sticking around
Deadline reported that the fan-favorite show would be returning with 10 brand-new episodes. Both seasons one and two of "You" also featured 10 episodes, so this isn't a huge surprise.
The series's cocreators Sera Gamble and Greg Berlanti will return as executive producers, with Gamble also returning as showrunner - so fans can likely expect the new season to have a similar tone and structure as the previous ones, plus a lot of unexpected twists and turns.
According to a post on the "You" writers' Instagram story, the first episode is currently titled "And They Lived Happily Ever After" and is written by showrunner Sera Gamble and Mairin Reed, who has worked on pasts seasons of the show.
Penn Badgley and Victoria Pedretti will be returning as Joe and Love
Two characters fans can definitely expect to see on season three are Joe Goldberg and Love Quinn.
As Deadline reported, season two's lead actors Penn Badgley and Victoria Pedretti have both officially signed on to reprise their roles for the third season of "You."
Paired with what we know from the season-two finale - that Love and Joe have moved to the suburbs to raise their daughter together - we can expect the third season to shed light on how the couple will navigate life following their murderous confessions, the death of Love's twin brother, and the unpredictable journey of parenthood.
A few new faces have officially joined the cast
Netflix announced that CBS's "NCIS: New Orleans" alum Shalita Grant will join the cast as Sherry, a "mom-fluencer" who seems nice, but is only pretending to welcome Love into her friend group.
Travis VanWinkle, who previously appeared on TNT's "The Last Ship," will play Cary, a wealthy man who lets Joe into his social circle.
Actor Scott Speedman will join the cast as Matthew, a CEO and "uncommunicative father" with a tendency to be withdrawn.
Love Quinn could show us how she's different from Joe on season three
Prior to the official announcement of the show's third season, Badgley "unofficially" confirmed that the show would be renewed, and he also dropped some hints about Love.
In a December 2019 interview with Entertainment Tonight, Badgley mentioned the unique way fans may see Pedretti's character Love on season three.
He noted that even though they are both killers, Joe and Love are quite different.
"[Love] doesn't appear to be the same kind of person [as Joe], she doesn't appear to be the same kind of predator, she doesn't appear to be the same kind of, you know … " he began to say in the interview, though he quickly stopped talking.
But it's clear that there may be more to Love's story than we expect, and whatever it is may set her apart from Joe.
Joe will continue to seek things that fill the holes of his childhood
Speaking with Entertainment Tonight, Badgley responded to questions about whether Joe will kill again by saying, "Joe is looking for something that he can't … I think Joe is looking for that which was taken from him as a child."
Although Joe's move to the suburbs and commitment to raising his child with Love is perhaps a step in the right direction, his fixation on the neighbor at the end of season two makes it safe to assume that Joe hasn't quite found what he's looking for yet.
It also means there could be more flashbacks from his childhood in store for the third season.
Despite popular fan theories, we know for sure that Joe's mother is not the mystery neighbor
The final episode of season two left fans reeling from the reveal that Joe had begun to stalk the person living in the house next to his own.
Many fans began forming theories about the mysterious neighbor who appears during the cliffhanger of the season-two finale, with some speculating that she could be Joe's mom.
Although the identity of the mystery woman has not been officially revealed, we know it isn't Joe's mother because Badgley debunked the theory in an interview with Bustle.
That said, it looks like the mystery neighbor could be married or engaged, based on the sparkler viewers can spot on her ring finger.
The series is loosely based on books by Caroline Kepnes, but the third book probably won't tell us much about the upcoming season
Author Caroline Kepnes, who wrote "You" and "Hidden Bodies," the books on which Netflix's "You" is based, recently published the third one, "You Love Me."
The book, which debuted on April 6, follows Joe to the Pacific Northwest as he ditches Love. Kepnes is also working on a fourth book.
Although there are a variety of differences between the book series and the show, the future of the characters and storylines in Netflix's "You" could continue to be influenced by Kepnes' series.
But based on what we know about season three of the show so far and how season two was a far stretch from the books, the third season is likely hardly inspired by the books.
Kepnes' Twitter account seems to give some hints on what we could possibly expect from Joe in the coming season
The author keeps her Twitter account stocked with tweets about Joe, the show, and her books.
Some of her tweets also seem to hint at possible directions the show could take, though it's not clear if she's joking or solely referring to her books.
-Caroline Kepnes (@CarolineKepnes) January 14, 2020
She also tweeted that the showrunners will read her upcoming book ahead of season three, so it could help to inspire the new season.
-Caroline Kepnes (@CarolineKepnes) January 14, 2020
This should be taken with a grain of salt because although season one followed the first book rather closely, season two diverged quite a bit from book two, "Hidden Bodies."
Season 3 is set to debut at the end of 2021
According to Deadline, the series's third season is currently slated to debut during the fourth quarter of this year - so October, November, or December.
This means we have a lot of time to think about the looming questions we have, such as: What happened to Joe's mom? Who is the woman next door? Will Love get away with the murders of Delilah and Candace? Will Dr. Nicky tell anyone he knows about Joe Goldberg?
Hopefully, season three will reveal some of the answers.
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