You won’t be able to believe it: Netflix’s You starring Penn Badgley is renewed for fifth and final season

You season 4 spoilers below

Netflix has just announced that its thriller series, You, will be renewed for a fifth and final series and that it will air as soon as next year.

“Brace yourself for Joe Goldberg’s final chapter,” said Netflix on Twitter.

The news has come hot on the heels of the last season’s release: the second instalment of You’s fourth series only premiered two weeks ago, and it whipped up a lot of attention for being quite barmy.

In it, Penn Badgley’s character, serial killer Joe Goldberg, is in the UK masquerading as an English Literature professor, and this time someone is stalking him.

“This show is no longer awfully good - it is just plain awful,” said The Standard, earlier this month, before correctly predicting, “Joe Goldberg will return for a fifth season, and god knows where he’ll pop up this time. But if Netflix sees sense they’ll make sure this is his final outing, because You has officially become too ridiculous for its own good.”

But according to Variety, the fifth season will undergo a major change as it is set to have completely new showrunners. Sera Gamble and Greg Berlanti, who have been the showrunners of the first four seasons, are stepping aside, while executive producers Michael Foley and Justin W. Lo, who also wrote some episodes across the four series, will take up the mantle.

“As I step back from day-to-day showrunning to focus on new projects, I’m immensely grateful...” said Gamble. “Making the show alongside our writers, producers, directors, cast and crew has been an honor and ridiculously fun.

“I’m proud of what we’ve all accomplished and feel privileged to pass the torch. I’m excited to watch and support the You team as they bring Joe Goldberg’s journey to its delightfully twisted conclusion.”

“We are so incredibly grateful to Netflix and Sera and everyone that has been a part of this show from the beginning. Sera is the most brilliant writer and partner and she will remain a key part of the You family as an executive producer,” said Berlanti and executive producer Sarah Schechter.

Over the last four years, You has come a long way: it first aired on Lifetime in the US where, according to Variety, a grand total of 650,000 people watched it.

But when it streamed on Netflix (which had acquired international broadcast rights), it immediately became a huge hit: it was released on December 26 and by January 17, 2019, Netflix said that 40 million people had tuned in to watch the show.

So while there are no details about where Goldberg will pop up next, we have to say we’re intrigued – will he stay in New York where season 4 ended? Will he return to Europe?

You season five is set to be released in 2024