Dark and gripping psychological drama, You, has been one of Netflix most popular releases. Now in its third season, You focuses on the handsome, but incredibly unhinged protagonist Joe. Played very convincingly by Penn Badgley, Joe has some very unhealthy obsessions with women, including a penchant for stalking them. While the thought of being stalked would be enough to make anyone uncomfortable, the realities on set for Badgley and his co-star Victoria Pedretti are awkward for other reasons.
Season three of You sees Joe and his equally psychotic partner, Love, played by Pedretti, living the perfect suburban life together with their new son, Henry.
Playing a couple means that Badgley and Pedretti are no strangers to the challenges of filming sex scenes, but it seems that season three became even more complicated, due to Covid-19.
Due to the pandemic, trying to keep conditions safe on set while filming intimate scenes together was very challenging, Pedretti has revealed.
"This is not a show where you can be like, 'nobody's going to kiss, it'll be fine', so it took months to figure out how to do it safely," she told Entertainment Weekly.
"I felt very lucky that they start off their relationship at odds with each other, navigating the awkwardness of being new parents, because it felt strange to be physically intimate very early on – even though we're supposed to be a married couple."
It seems that after the extended hiatus due to Covid it took a while for the on-screen couple to click again.
"It's weird. We have a rapport. We played a couple before, but it didn't just immediately come back after being in a global pandemic," Pedretti continued.
Badgley agreed, adding: "It's really true, the implications of all that stuff was really felt."
Show runner Sera Gamble also revealed while they felt "really lucky" to be able to film the third season, it was not without its challenges.
Badgley explained: "There were significant rewrites throughout the whole season to try and negotiate around these scenes that would require a lot of people."
You has been confirmed for a season four and the first three seasons are currently streaming on Netflix.