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Penn Badgley says Joe from You is the "same" as Dan from Gossip Girl
15 January 2020, 17:18
Netflix viewers have long believed that Joe Goldberg in You is just Dan Humphrey in Gossip Girl all grown up.
Penn Badgley has revealed that he thinks Joe Goldberg from You and Dan Humphrey from Gossip Girl are the same person.
As soon as You first aired in 2018, fans immediately made connections between Penn Badgley's character Joe and Dan who he used to play in Gossip Girl. Dan may not be a serial killer like Joe but he is essentially a stalker. In the final episode of the teen drama, it's revealed that Dan is Gossip Girl and he's been creeping on his friends and fellow students the whole time.
READ MORE: Penn Badgley responds to You season 3 theory about Joe's neighbour
Dan actually used the Gossip Girl website and persona as a means to foster his relationship with Serena, just like Joe stalks and studies Beck and Love in the hopes that they will fall in love with him. This led viewers to theorise that Joe could be an older version of Dan and that Gossip Girl and You are set in the same universe. Now Penn has weighed in on the theory.
Speaking to The New Yorker about Joe and You season 2, Penn said: "To me, Joe is privilege embodied. He’s the blindness that privilege entails." He then compared the series to his former show. "This is the whole strangeness of the show. In some ways, it’s this bizarre kind of fantastical, bingeable thing, like Gossip Girl. At the same time it’s, like, Ugh! It’s horrifying!"
Penn then added his two cents to the theory that Joe and Dan are the same person. He said: "It’s the same role. But now he has blood dripping down his face." And I oop. Obviously, Penn didn't confirm that Gossip Girl is a prequel to You (that's all fanfiction as far as we know) but it's wild to know that he agrees with fans that Joe and Dan are surprisingly similar.
does anyone else think joe from #you is the exact same character as Dan from gossip girl but slightly darker
— kaytamine (@fleetwood__max) January 3, 2019
"you" and gossip girl are set in the same universe!!!!!!!!!!
— Natalya Lobanova (@NatalyaLobanova) January 7, 2019
Joe is Dan Humphrey on steroids https://t.co/nfIzjZIzPU
— Ash (@_mcxash) January 6, 2019
#You is really well done, and also casting Penn Badgley REALLY makes it feel like Dan Humphrey is finally exactly who we always thought he was. -H
— Heather & Jessica (@fuggirls) January 9, 2019
NETFLIX's YOU:
— Maria Newton (@MariaNewton21) January 5, 2019
Starring Penn Badgley... Joe Goldberg, a lonely outsider who stalks everybody via social media & finds his way into an "it" crowd via a hot blonde
AKA:
NETFLIX's YOU:
Starring Penn Badgley... like Gossip Girl, but Dan Humphrey has a dash of homicidal tendencies
I thought I already watched 6 seasons of Dan Humphrey being obsessed with a blonde but I guess he reincarnated as a creepier joe Goldberg #You
— Zac Robbins (@Z_Rob77) January 4, 2019
Petition for You season 3 to star Blake Lively, Leighton Meester and Chace Crawford.
