All 9 Character Returns Hinted At In Netflix’s You Season 5

The fifth and final season of the Netflix psychological thriller series You will be released in 2024, and there are plenty of characters from Joe Goldberg’s past who could show up as the series reaches its conclusion. In a teaser trailer for the fifth season, Penn Badgley, who played Joe, spoke about the “loose ends from Joe’s past” that he may face when arriving back in New York for the final season. The trailer showed several familiar faces, both expected and surprising, who could potentially reappear and cause trouble as the story of Joe and his obsessive ways comes to an end.

While major characters and love interests like Guinevere Beck and Love Quinn met their end because they knew Joe, there were plenty of others who made it out alive and had unfinished business that could blow up in his face. From framed foes left sitting in jail to Joe’s abandoned child, there’s no shortage of characters who could be expected to take Joe down in the final episodes. No matter which characters from the teaser trailer do turn up, You Season 5 will certainly be full of intense drama for Joe Goldberg.

9

Marianne Bellamy

Played by Tati Gabrielle

The first character whose return was hinted at in the teaser trailer for You Season 5 was Joe Golberg’s third-season love interest, Marianne Bellamy. While Marianne was first introduced as a smart, no-nonsense librarian, she quickly fell for Joe’s deceptive charisma and soon became another victim of his obsessive nature when he discovered more about her troubled life as a former addict that led to her daughter being taken away from her. In the fourth season, it was revealed that Joe had locked Marianne in a cage and, due to his delusional circumstances, forgot about her entirely.

While Marianne managed to make it out alive, Joe believed she had died as she faked her death over losing custody of her daughter. The last time audiences saw Marianne, she read an article about Joe, and this opened the door for her potential return. After undergoing the horror of being kept prisoner by Joe, Marianne has plenty of reasons to seek revenge in the final season, and she would be a likely candidate to be the one who puts an end to the sadistic story of Joe Goldberg.

8

Dr. Nicky Reynolds

Played by John Stamos

As the therapist of Joe Golberg’s first love interest, Guinevere Beck, in You, Dr. Nicky Reynolds had more insight than most into the twisted psychology of Joe and the disastrous effects he’s had on those in his life. However, like Joe himself, Dr. Nicky was no stranger to unethical behavior, as he had an affair with Beck, which led to Joe killing Beck and framing Dr. Nicky for the crime. This led to Dr. Nicky being sentenced to prison, although the door was left open for his reappearance.

Dr. Nicky appeared again in the second season of You, where Love Quinn’s brother Forty visited him in prison. Here, Dr. Nicky learned that the patient he knew as Paul Brown was Joe in secret, visiting him to find out more information. Dr. Nicky advised Forty to stay away from Joe, which hinted that even though Joe’s the reason he was behind bars, he’d rather not seek revenge, but this was certainly a major loose thread that could come back to haunt Joe.

7

Karen Minty

Played by Natalie Paul

Karen Minty was a love interest for Joe Golberg in the first season of You and was one of the few women who managed to have a romance with the obsessive killer and make it out alive. Karen was a friend of Joe’s neighbor Claudia, and although the two had great chemistry, Joe ultimately chose to stay with Guinevere Beck rather than carve out a serious relationship with Karen. Although this hurt her, Karen accepted the breakup and left his life without any issue.

The romance between Karen and Joe did not leave many loose ends, although Beck’s death and all the subsequent strange things that happened to Joe throughout the past four seasons may open the door to her returning in Season 5. Karen was aware of Joe’s infidelity with Beck when they were together and may suspect him as the true cause of her death. The return of Karen would call back to the very first season of You and be an interesting way to show that no matter what, the past always catches up.

6

Paco

Played by Luca Padovan

As the young next-door neighbor of Joe Golberg, Paco was an important aspect of the first season of You who did not appear in any subsequent seasons and would be an interesting character to catch up on before the series ended. Paco struggled with a difficult home life and found a friend in Joe, who gave him books and advised him on his problems. With a drug-addicted mother in an abusive relationship with Ron, Paco tried to resolve the situation first with a gun and then drugging the boyfriend; however, Joe stopped him and killed Ron himself.

Joe felt protective of Paco and murdered Ron to allow him to have a new life, as, at the end of the season, Paco and his mom moved away from New York for a fresh start. But before that happened, Paco discovered Beck in the basement of the bookstore and did not help her escape. Paco was one of the few characters who knew about Joe’s murderous behavior since the first season, and it would be an interesting full-circle development if he was the one to finally bring Joe down.

5

Baby Henry Goldberg

Uncredited

The fifth season teaser trailer for You hinted at the potential return of Henry Goldberg, the newborn baby son of Joe Goldberg and Love Quinn, whom Love’s mother Dottie believed was the reincarnated version of her son Forty. Born to two sociopathic murderers, the last viewers saw of Henry was that he had been adopted by Dante and his husband Lansing at the end of Season 3. Surprisingly, Joe did not go back to get Henry in the fourth season, but there’s a strong possibility they will be reunited in Season 5.

As a baby, Henry does not pose much of a threat to Joe, but the consequences of having him around could lead to conflict in the final season, as Joe will have to explain that he faked his death to get him back. Knowing Joe’s cunning nature, he will surely find a way to reconnect with Henry in the fifth season. While this might be good for Joe, sadly for Henry, it will likely only lead to trauma and pain, as no child should grow up with a serial killer as a parent.

4

Ellie Alves

Played by Jenna Ortega

While most viewers will likely readily associate Jenna Ortega with Wednesday Adams from the Netflix hit Wednesday, Ortega first appeared on You as Joe’s 15-year-old neighbor after he moved to Los Angeles during the second season. Joe acted as a kind of protector for Ellie, as he saved her from being sexually assaulted by the comedian Henderson. However, like so many before her, Joe’s actions led to nothing but pain as her older sister was murdered by Love Quinn after she made plans to turn Joe in.

Ellie was caught in the crossfire of all this drama, and Joe gave her money to leave L.A. and start a new life, which she reluctantly did. Ellie did not appear in the third or fourth season of You, although Joe did mention he periodically sent her money, which confirmed they remained in contact offscreen. It would make sense for Ellie to show up again in the final season of You to discover the truth about what happened to her sister and Joe’s role in her death.

3

Cary and Sherry Conrad

Played by Travis Van Winkle and Shalita Grant

The husband-and-wife duo Cary and Sherry Conrad went through a lot as a result of meeting Joe Golberg in You. Having been kept prisoner in Joe and Love Quinn’s cage, the hilarious couple had a lot of trauma to deal with but also found a unique way to monetize their suffering. The last that viewers saw of Cary and Sherry was that they had capitalized on their imprisonment, written a book called Caged: A Radical Couple’s Therapy Technique, and had even given inspirational TED Talks.

With the belief that their captors were dead and gone, Cary and Sherry felt they had the freedom to say anything they wanted about their horrific experiences, although this may lead them right back to Joe. Together, Cary and Sherry contributed to some of the funniest moments in You, so it would be great to see them again. However, exactly how they will fit into the story or whether it benefits them to expose Joe remains to be seen.

2

Lady Phoebe

Played by Tilly Keeper

The sweet, kind, rich, and chaotic Lady Phoebe Borehall-Blaxworth was a main character in the fourth season of You who came into contact with Joe after he moved to the United Kingdom and posed as a university professor. Although Joe will be coming back to the United States for the final season of You, that does not mean that his loose ends in the U.K. won’t come back to haunt him. The presence of Lady Phoebe in the You Season 5 teaser hinted that she may return in some form.

As the fourth season of You ended up with Lady Phoebe’s close friend Kate Galvin moving to New York with Joe, this connection to his old life in England meant there were plenty of ways that London characters could make a comeback. With so many false identities and secretive stories to keep up with, someone like Lady Phoebe could be the key to Joe’s ultimate downfall. The last time viewers saw Lady Phoebe, she had moved to Thailand to teach children, but that won’t stop her from coming to visit Kate in the final season.

1

Nadia Farran

Played by Amy-Leigh Hickman

Although Nadia Farran first appeared as the inquisitive and argumentative student of Joe Goldberg, posing as Jonathan Moore, in the fourth season of You, she now acted as Joe’s biggest threat moving into the final season. Nadia was central in tricking Joe into believing that Marianne had died, and her cunning ways make her a prime suspect in finally bringing Joe down in Season 5. Although Nadia almost outsmarted Joe in Season 4, he quickly turned the tables on her and framed her for the murder of her friend Eddie.

As of the end of You Season 4, Nadia was locked up for a crime she didn’t commit, so it would make sense for her to return and seek out vengeance against Joe in the final season. As one of the few people to have entirely uncovered Joe’s evil ways and lived, Nadia was an incredibly determined character whose story arc has plenty of loose ends that still need to be explored. While it makes sense for Nadia to make a comeback in You, how, when, or if, she will do this remains to be seen.