You star Penn Badgley reacts to Joe's controversial last scenes: 'Take his balls'

The final episode saw Joe not only face his crimes and get convicted, but also saw Bronte (Madeline Brewer) confront the serial killer in a dramatic woodland confrontation.

Despite previously thinking he had drowned her, Bronte surprises Joe in the woods with a gun that she's taken from a nearby police officer that Joe incapacitated.

When Joe runs at her, Bronte shoots Joe in the penis which, as you guessed it, becomes ripe internet fodder when he's eventually put on trial.

Reacting to the final episode and Joe's outcome, Penn Badgley told Deadline of the decision to end Joe's journey in such a way: "It does become a question of, ‘What do we do with people like Joe?'

“It is a carceral question, a question of justice, of transformative justice as it’s referred to sometimes, vengeance, retribution. What is best, not just for Joe, but the person who then has to do it?"

He continues: "If somebody was to kill him – and it would be a woman, right – well then actually now what you’ve burdened her with is having committed murder, like that’s not just, I don’t think. Torture? Uh OK, same thing. Prison? Eh, feels a bit not enough. So what do you do? Take. His. Balls.”

The dramatic final forest scenes are ones that Badgley – who also serves as an executive producer on the series – was intent on doing in such a way to confront viewers with the fact that Joe is a killer and abuser.

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He told Deadline of those final scenes: “I did fight – the one time I’ll ever fight to be in my underwear for a whole sequence – because they really wanted a white tank top on him to show the evolution of the ripping, the blood, the dirt.

“I was like, ‘I feel you, I get you, but he needs to be as close to naked as possible because he needs to look like he’s about to abuse [Bronte].”

The fifth and final season of You sees Joe return to his native New York with wife Kate (Charlotte Ritchie) and son Henry, intent on continuing on this new blissful chapter of their lives.

But of course, as is the case of the series, ghosts from Joe's past threaten his idyllic present and it's not long before the pull of his previous life starts to wreak havoc for himself and everyone around him.

The new season not only sees the return of Badgley and Ritchie but also marks the introduction of new characters, including Madeline Brewer (The Handmaid's Tale) as Bronte, Griffin Matthews (The Flight Attendant) as Teddy, Anna Camp (True Blood) as Reagan and Maddie, and Nava Mau (Baby Reindeer) as Detective Marquez.

You season 5 is now streaming on Netflix. Sign up for Netflix from £5.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.

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