Penn Badgley looked different. That was the first thing everyone noticed when You premiered on Lifetime before exploding on Netflix. He wasn't the "Lonely Boy" from Gossip Girl anymore. He was Joe Goldberg. He was creepy. He was a stalker. But he was also, somehow, the guy you couldn't stop watching. The cast of You season 1 didn't just play characters; they built a foundation for a psychological thriller that, honestly, the later seasons struggled to match in terms of raw, gritty realism.
New York City felt like a character too. The damp basements, the overpriced green juices, and the suffocating feeling of the 4/5/6 train. Everything felt grounded. It wasn't the globetrotting, high-glam absurdity of the London or Los Angeles seasons. It was just a guy in a bookstore and the girl who walked in.
Penn Badgley and the art of the internal monologue
You can't talk about this show without starting with Penn. He carries the entire thing on his back. Usually, when an actor does voiceover, it feels like a lazy way to explain the plot. Not here. Badgley’s Joe Goldberg uses that narration to gaslight the audience. He makes his obsession sound like a chivalrous quest. It’s gross. It’s also brilliant.
Before he was Joe, Penn was Dan Humphrey. The irony isn't lost on anyone. It’s like Dan finally snapped and moved to Yorkville. Badgley has been vocal about his distaste for Joe. He constantly reminds fans on social media that Joe is a murderer, not a romantic hero. That self-awareness from the lead actor adds a layer of depth to the performance. He isn't playing a cool killer; he’s playing a pathetic, broken man who thinks he’s a prince.
Elizabeth Lail as Guinevere Beck
Elizabeth Lail had a tough job. She had to play Guinevere Beck, a character who is often seen only through Joe's warped perspective. To Joe, she’s a "damsel" who needs saving. To the audience, she’s a struggling MFA student with terrible friends and a mess of a personal life. Lail played Beck with a specific kind of vulnerability that made the ending of the season genuinely devastating.
She wasn't perfect. Beck was messy. She cheated, she lied, and she was often incredibly selfish. But that’s what made her human. In a world of "final girls" who are often one-dimensional, Beck felt like someone you actually knew in your twenties. Her death wasn't just a plot point; it was the moment the show signaled it wasn't a rom-com. It was a tragedy.
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The supporting players who defined the vibe
Let's talk about Peach Salinger. Shay Mitchell was a revelation. Coming off Pretty Little Liars, people expected a certain type of performance. Instead, we got Peach. She was sharp. She was cruel. She was the only one who saw through Joe’s "nice guy" act immediately.
Peach was Joe's true antagonist in season 1. It wasn't the police; it was a wealthy, obsessive socialite who was just as toxic as Joe was, just in a different way. Their standoff in Greenwich was peak television. When Joe finally got rid of her, the show lost its best foil.
Then there was Benji. Lou Taylor Pucci played the quintessential "trash startup bro" so well you almost—almost—didn't mind when Joe locked him in the glass cage. Benji represented everything Joe hated about modern culture: the pretension, the lack of substance, the artisanal soda. His presence in the early episodes established the rules of Joe's world. If Joe thinks you're a bad person, he's allowed to "fix" the situation.
- Paco (Luca Padovan): The neighbor kid. He was the emotional anchor. Joe’s relationship with Paco showed his weird, distorted sense of morality. He would kill a man for Beck but give his last sandwich and a copy of The Count of Monte Cristo to a kid in a hallway.
- Ron (Hari Nef): Technically Ron was the villain in Paco’s story, played by Victoria Cartagena (Claudia) and Daniel Cosgrove (Ron). This subplot was dark. It showed that Joe’s violence could, in very specific and terrifying circumstances, look like "help."
- Ethan (Zach Cherry): The comedic relief. Zach Cherry is a treasure. His deadpan delivery at Mooney’s Books gave the show the breathing room it needed between the more intense stalking sequences.
Why the chemistry worked
The cast of You season 1 had a chemistry that felt accidental and perfect. You believed Joe and Beck were a couple, even though you knew it was built on a foundation of lies. You believed Peach and Beck had a decade of baggage.
The casting directors, David Rapaport and Lyndsey Baldasare, really nailed the "New York archetype." Everyone felt like they belonged in that specific ecosystem. Even the minor characters, like Beck's "friends" Lynn and Annika, added to the feeling of a superficial social circle that Joe desperately wanted to "save" Beck from.
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The Mooney Factor
Mark Blum as Mr. Mooney is often overlooked. Mooney was the surrogate father who taught Joe everything he knew about books—and about cages. Blum brought a chilling, old-school toughness to the role. He wasn't a cartoon villain. He was a man who believed in discipline and "restoration." Through him, we saw the origin of Joe's madness. It wasn't just born; it was curated in a basement.
Misconceptions about the first season
Some people think the show was always a Netflix original. It wasn't. It started on Lifetime. The fact that it survived the jump and became a global phenomenon is a testament to the writing and the performances.
Another big misconception? That Joe is a "genius." If you rewatch season 1, you realize Joe is actually kind of a mess. He forgets things. He leaves DNA everywhere. He gets hit by a car. He only survives because the people around him are too distracted by their own lives to notice a guy in a baseball cap staring at them from across the street. The cast of You season 1 portrayed a world of people so self-absorbed that a predator could hide in plain sight.
The legacy of the original ensemble
Since that first run of episodes, the show has changed. We've had Love Quinn, we've had the suburban nightmare of Madre Linda, and we've had the "whodunnit" vibe of London. But nothing quite captures the claustrophobic dread of those first ten episodes.
The actors who populated Joe’s first hunting ground set a bar that is incredibly high. They made us care about people who were arguably unlikable. They made a stalker story feel like a conversation about privacy, social media, and the "Nice Guy" trope.
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Actionable Insights for Fans and Rewatchers:
If you’re heading back to rewatch the series, pay close attention to the following details that the cast nailed in the first go-around:
- Watch Joe’s Eyes: Penn Badgley does this thing where his face goes completely blank when he’s not "performing" for someone. It’s a chilling reminder of his sociopathy.
- The Wardrobe Choices: Notice how Beck’s clothes change as Joe influences her life. The costume department and Elizabeth Lail worked together to show her shifting identity.
- Background Details at Mooney’s: The books mentioned aren't random. They often mirror the themes of the episode or Joe’s current psychological state.
- Social Media Accuracy: Look at the "posts" Annika and Lynn make. They perfectly capture the 2018 era of Instagram, which was central to how Joe tracked his targets.
The first season remains a masterclass in how to cast a psychological thriller. It wasn't about big names; it was about the right faces for a very specific, very dark story. By focusing on the humanity of the victims and the banal evil of the protagonist, the cast of You season 1 created a cultural touchstone that still dominates conversations years later.
To get the most out of the series, compare the grounded performances of Lail and Mitchell to the more heightened, almost satirical performances in seasons 3 and 4. You’ll see just how much the show evolved from a gritty NYC thriller into the campy, dark comedy it eventually became. Both are good, but the first one? That's the one that stays with you.