Penn Badgley tried to dodge sex scenes and 11 other things you didn't know about Netflix's You.

Netflix's You has taken the world by storm. 

Is the storyline of the show a little confronting? Yes. Does it involve a lot of murder and gore and likely shouldn't be watched at night while alone? Also yes. 

But it continues to be a hit with viewers! You has some pretty iconic names behind it as well, including Gossip Girl's Penn Badgley, Victoria Pedretti and also everyone's new favourite actor Jenna Ortega. 

And behind the scenes, the tidbits, fun facts and gossip is just as interesting.

Watch part one trailer for You season four. Post continues below.

So with this in mind, here are 12 things you likely didn't know about Netflix's You. 

1. Penn Badgley nearly turned down playing Joe Goldberg.

Before it aired in 2018, Badgley said that he felt "conflicted" about taking on the show and its main character Joe Goldberg. 

He explained to Entertainment Weekly that he was worried to play such an "awful person" – aka an obsessive, often murderous, man who becomes easily infatuated with different women. 

"I didn't want to do it – it was too much. I was conflicted with the nature of the role. If this is a love story, what is it saying? And then what was key in me wanting to jump on board were my conversations with Greg Berlanti and Sera Gamble, the creators, and understanding Joe's humanity," he said.

"I knew that I would be conflicted about the role from day one till the last day, and that is why they thought I would be good for it, is that I'm not psyched to play somebody of this nature."

Badgley has said he still struggles to connect to the character, making his job harder, but has enjoyed seeing the evolution of the show over its four seasons. 

2. Victoria Pedretti originally auditioned to play Guinevere Beck way back in season one. 

From season two to season three, Victoria Pedretti plays Love Quinn, one of Joe Goldberg's love interests. And Love is a deeply flawed and complex character as well – which fans adored.

But interestingly, Pedretti said she originally auditioned for the role of Joe Goldberg's first love interest back in season one – Guinevere Beck. 

"I auditioned for Beck during my first time in LA while I was showcasing with my university. I got pretty far in the audition process. It was the furthest I had ever gotten in an audition process," Pedretti told Byrdie.

Then a year or two later, she landed an even bigger role on You. 

Victoria Pedretti and Penn Badgley in You. Image: Netflix.

"I haven't even talked to them [the producers] about whether or not they remember me auditioning for Beck, to be honest. But we started having conversations about the show. I was able to meet with Penn Badgley, and the rest is history."

Guinevere Beck ended up being played by actor Elizabeth Lail. 

3. The show is based on a certain book.

Like most iconic TV shows and movies, we have an author to thank.

You is loosely based on the books by American author Caroline Kepnes, specifically her book called You. Described as "hypnotic and scary" by Stephen King himself, it makes sense why the book is quite parallel to the series.

4. As for all the blood... there's a 'blood machine' used for gory scenes.

Given the sheer amount of murders that take place throughout the series (combined with Joe Goldberg and Love Quinn it's over a dozen) there's plenty of fake blood on set.

And according to set designers and the graphics team, all the blood used in the gory scenes is actually made out of sugar that gets squirted out of a 'blood machine' – a fact which was corroborated by Pedretti in an interview. 

5. Plenty of prosthetics are also used as well.

Throughout the series, there are plenty of violent scenes involving knives, chopped-off body parts, and more. So it makes sense why there's an extensive collection of prosthetics used on set. 

Fans would remember in season two when part of Joe Goldberg's finger is cut off by a sketchy debt collector. And for that scene, Badgley wore a prosthetic arm to achieve the perfect shot.

There's also that toe scene. And yes, Badgley, fortunately, had a fake foot to use, instead of his own.

And another delightful example is when Joe Goldberg puts one of his victims inside a meat grinder when trying to dispose of the evidence. For this Badgley said to TVLine: "We had a life-sized, very authentic prosthetic body. It was a headless body that was extremely realistic to touch and sight. All of the body hair, each hair, was a real human hair that was applied individually. So the amount of human labour that went into this body was pretty great. It was rigged so that it would bleed when you cut into it. There was also a removable arm."

He said when it came to pulverising the fake body, he found it "surreal", adding: "That part was nauseating."

Penn Badgley with his prosthetic arm during a gory scene, as well as the prosthetic foot. Image: Netflix/Instagram.

6. The show is mostly written by women.

No one writes murder, complex relationships and drama quite like a team of women. 

The show is of course based on a novel written by Caroline Kepnes, while the co-creator and showrunner is Sera Gamble. Plus, the show's writers and directors are predominantly women, which Gamble has said is a deliberate choice. 

As Gamble said to Bustle: "You isn't a cautionary tale for women. It's a wake-up call for men."

7. Jenna Ortega was set to return in season four, but couldn't because of her Netflix show Wednesday. 

Jenna Ortega is showing no signs of slowing down when it comes to her success in Hollywood, following Netflix's Wednesday. 

But before Wednesday, Ortega was in season two of You, starring alongside Badgley. 

But You's creator recently said that Ortega's character, Ellie Alves, was supposed to return to You for season four, but she was unable to because of filming for Wednesday.

Badgley recently praised his former co-star, saying: "I'm super happy for Jenna. She's so talented and deserves it."

8. Victoria Pedretti said that filming the sex scenes felt pretty awkward.

Pedretti said she found it quite "strange" filming sex scenes alongside Badgley. 

"It felt strange to be physically intimate very early on, even though we're supposed to be a married couple," she said to Entertainment Weekly.

9. There's been plenty of rumours that two You co-stars are dating in real life.

Despite it essentially being a show about a murderous, obsessive man, it's nice to see that the series has reportedly produced a happier real-life storyline.

According to multiple reports, co-stars Victoria Pedretti and Dylan Arnold have been in a relationship since filming season three. In the show, Arnold plays Joe Goldberg and Love Quinn's teenage neighbour who falls in love with Quinn.

But in real life, Arnold is actually one year older than Pedretti. And they certainly had good chemistry on the show.

Victoria Pedretti and Dylan Arnold in the series. Image: Netflix.

"It's actually funny, because I'm a year older than Victoria [Pedretti], and much older than my character, so those moments where she's referring to me as a teenager were always really funny because I'm older than she is. But yeah, we had a lot of fun with those scenes," Arnold said to Teen Vogue.

10. On set, Penn Badgley doesn't actually have that much to remember, as most of his lines are voiceover.

Given Joe Goldberg narrates the entire show, it's not surprising that Badgley doesn't have many lines to remember on set. The voiceovers are done post-production, Badgley saying: "80 per cent of my lines, if not more, are actually voiceovers."

11. Penn Badgley said he asked producers of You if he could do no sex scenes from season four on.

Badgley has said he agrees with Pedretti regarding the awkwardness of filming sex scenes, despite having an intimacy coordinator on set to help with the logistics.

The first three seasons of You have quite a lot of raunchy moments, so for season four, Badgley said he asked producers if he could have fewer sex scenes this time around.

He said it came down to his wish to not always pigeonhole himself into the romantic lead role for the rest of his career, and also out of respect for his wife, Domino Kirke. 

"Fidelity in every relationship, including my marriage, is important to me," Bagley said on Podcrushed. "It's got to the point where I don't want to do that. I signed this contract. I signed up for this show. I know what I did. You can't take this aspect out of the DNA of the concept. 'So how much less can you make it?' was my question to them."

Penn Badgley in season four with actor Charlotte Ritchie. Image: Netflix.

Badgley said he was pleasantly surprised by the reaction from the creator, who "didn't even bat an eye" to his request. 

"She was really glad that I was that honest. She was sort of almost, I want to say empowered, she had a really positive response. They came back with a phenomenal reduction."

12. And funnily enough, the word 'you' is actually used a lot in You.

Finally, to end on a bang, the word 'you' is PROLIFICALLY used in the series.

And some fabulous person at Netflix counted the number of times it's said, apparently totalling to 3,857 within the first two seasons. So with four seasons now, it is definitely over the 5,000 mark. 

There we made it to the end. Now is it time to watch You?

Feature Image: Netflix.

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