Penn Badgley Reveals Why He Didn't Want To Do Intimacy Scenes In Netflix's You

Penn Badgley recently opened up about why he hoped to avoid filming intimacy scenes in the popular Netflix series You.

On Friday’s episode of his podcast, titled Podcrushed, the actor said he wanted to skip the sensitive shots for both professional and personal reasons.

“One of the main things is like, do I want to put myself back in a career path where I’m just always a romantic lead?” he said.

“Fidelity in my — in every relationship, and especially my marriage — is important to me,” he added. “And yeah, it just got to a point where I don’t want to do that.”

But Penn said he had questioned whether he would have a career without romantic scenes. And although he would prefer to portray “zero” intimacy on screen, the actor said he understood what he signed up for with the Netflix show.

“You can’t take this aspect out of the DNA of the concept, so ‘how much less can you make it?’ was my question,” he said.

The actor recalled that show creator Sera Gamble appreciated his honesty and had a “positive response” to his request, leading to “a phenomenal reduction.”

Penn, who plays Joe in the psychological thriller, married singer Domino Kirke-Badgley in 2017. The couple welcomed their first child together, a baby boy, in 2020. Domino is also mother to son Cassius Riley from a previous relationship. 

The actor described his wife as a “truly radiant soul” in an Instagram post celebrating her birthday in 2019. 

The first season of You premiered in 2018. The first part of the show’s fourth season dropped on Thursday, and the second part is slated for a March 9 release.