Does Joe Goldberg die or get caught? You season 5 ending explained

26 April 2025, 21:33

Does Joe Goldberg die or get caught in You season 5? Ending explained. Picture: Netflix

By Katie Louise Smith

Does Joe Goldberg die in You season 5 or does he go to jail? Here's what happens at the end of You season 5. [Major spoilers ahead!]

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Well, the time has finally come to say goodbye to Joe Goldberg as the final season of You is now streaming on Netflix. You season 5's ending is an incredible finale for a brilliant series, but what actually happens to Joe Goldberg? Does he die? Does he finally go to jail? Here's the answer you've all been waiting for.

Season 5 sees Penn Badgley's Joe back where it all began in New York City but this time, he's extremely famous. Now dubbed Prince Charming, Joe is worshipped by everyone – except a handful of people who know the truth about the murderous monster.

Over the final 10 episodes, Joe appears to have cleaned his act up but Madeline Brewer's Bronte throws a spanner in the works. Despite being married to Kate, Joe falls for Bronte and everything begins to crumble.

So, if you're looking for an explanation behind the brutal yet satisfying ending of You, or you just wanna read some spoilers, here's exactly what happens to Joe Goldberg in the final episode.

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WARNING: Major spoilers ahead for You season 5's ending!

WARNING: Major You season 5 spoilers ahead! Picture: Netflix

What happens to Joe Goldberg at the end of You?

Halfway through You season 5, Joe is caught on TikTok Live after murdering Bronte's friend Clayton. He's arrested, but Kate later bails him out and he walks free. After Kate finds out he's been having an affair with Bronte, she completely shuts him off and starts her quest to take him down.

As he attempts to go on a redemption tour, he's stopped in his tracks by not only Kate, but Marienne and also Nadia (who Kate has managed to get out of jail).

The penultimate episode of You season 5 ends with a devastating fire (started by Maddie) that engulfs Mooney's and appears to claim the life of Kate who is left behind to burn while Bronte saves Joe. He then proposes to Bronte.

In the final episode, Bronte decides to stick with Joe in order to finally get justice for those he's killed. She escapes with him somewhere upstate, but later tricks and turns on him, holding him at gunpoint.

However, he attacks her and almost manages to kill her, but not before she makes the all-important call to the police.

Joe proposes to Bronte in the penultimate episode of You season 5. Picture: Netflix

Does Joe Goldberg get caught and go to prison in You season 5?

Yep – at long last, Joe Goldberg is finally caught and put behind bars in the final minutes of the season.

Just before he's caught by police, Bronte (who survived that brutal drowning attempt) manages to hold him at gun point. Just as he lunges to attack her, she shoots him in the penis and he's finally able to be apprehended.

The episode then reveals that Joe was put on trial, found guilty of first degree murder (on several counts) and sentenced to life without parole (on several counts). We know for sure that he was convicted of the murders of Beck, Love and several others including Benji and Peach.

On top of that, multiple other allegations were brought forward which then turned into more convictions. Basically, this man is never stepping foot outside of jail ever again. Joe Goldberg is in prison for life – and he's been castrated.

Does Joe Goldberg get caught in You season 5? Picture: Netflix

The final scene of the series shows Joe in prison, receiving explicit letters from women who believe he is innocent and who want him to do all kinds of disturbing things to them.

Lonely in his jail cell, deservedly miserable and alone, Joe ends the series by saying: "Maybe we have a problem as a society. Maybe we should fix what's broken in us. Maybe the problem isn't me... Maybe, it's you."

The show effectively holds the mirror back up at the audience in a twisted meta way, calling out viewers (or at least, some viewers) out for romanticising Joe Goldberg despite his absolutely heinous crimes.

Explaining that moment to Deadline, Penn (who has previously questioned viewers who love Joe so much) said: “It becomes a meta exercise on: Why are we so obsessed with this man?”

Joe plans to escape with Bronte/Louise in the final episode of You season 5. Picture: Netflix

Does Joe Goldberg die in You season 5?

Nope – despite some people believing that killing Joe Goldberg would be the perfect ending for the show, he ends up being dealt a fate far, far worse. He's gonna have to suffer alone in prison until his very last breath.

Speaking to Deadline about Joe's fate, Penn said: "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? 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."

Does Joe Goldberg die in You season 5? His fate revealed. Picture: Netflix

Similarly, Madeline Brewer also defended Bronte's reason to not kill Joe in the final episode too.

"I know people of the internet will be like, ‘Why didn't you just f---ing kill him?’” she told Vanity Fair. "Because it's not her. It's not her place. It's not what she was after. She wanted an answer to her question, and she got it. And the rest, they were seeking justice.

"And I think she realizes, ‘I don't think that this justice is necessarily up to me, because I'm not the only person who was hurt by you. Everybody now gets a piece of you, and you have to be alone forever.’ And that is a fate worse than death for Joe."