Penn Badgley, famed for his roles in Gossip Girl and You, dives deep into the finale of You and its cultural implications. He reflects on his childhood as a child actor and the solitude of his West Coast upbringing. Badgley shares transformative experiences from his 2012 trip to South America and how it shaped his spiritual journey with the Baha'i Faith, ultimately leading to his partner, Domino. The conversation touches on masculinity through the lens of his character, Joe Goldberg, revealing thought-provoking insights about identity and the modern male experience.
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insights INSIGHT
Politics Changes Villain Appeal
The political climate today alters how attractive a villain like Joe Goldberg is to audiences.
When political tensions are high, glorifying such characters feels less imaginative and more concerning.
question_answer ANECDOTE
Premature Birth and Survival
Penn Badgley was born prematurely and flatlined multiple times in his first year.
His mother had to resuscitate him gently in the backseat of a car after hospital visits.
insights INSIGHT
Isolation Shapes Early Life
Penn experienced extreme isolation growing up as an only child in a toxic family environment.
This solitude shaped his early life and reflects in his approach to acting and characterizations.
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The Executioner's Song is a Pulitzer Prize-winning true crime novel by Norman Mailer. The book meticulously reconstructs the events leading up to Gary Gilmore's crimes, his trial, and his ultimate execution by firing squad in Utah in 1977. It delves into themes of crime, punishment, and the American justice system through a blend of journalism and literary narrative. The novel details Gilmore's troubled life, his relationships, particularly with Nicole Baker, and the legal battles surrounding his case. Mailer's work raises questions about rehabilitation, retribution, and the ethics of capital punishment, and it examines the impact of media on high-profile criminal cases[3][4][5].
Television, perhaps more than movies, has a way of etching its stars in stone. And few actors seem to be able to break the mold more than once. Which is what makes Penn Badgley’s career—first on Gossip Girl then You—special.
We sit this week around the fifth and final season ofYou(7:00) to unpack its shocking series finale [spoiler] (9:13) and the political climate in which the show is coming to a close (12:10). Then, Penn opens up about the solitude of his west coast upbringing (19:50), his years as a child actor (23:19), and his beloved portrayal of Dan Humphrey on Gossip Girl (33:12).
On the back-half, Badgley’s transformative trip to South America in 2012 (39:46), his spiritual journey into the Bahá'í Faith (42:38), and how these experiences led him to his wife, Domino (44:30). To close, he describes the intense physical experience of filming the You finale [spoiler](51:36), what the ‘fantasy of Joe Goldberg’ reveals about masculinity today (55:55), and a fitting Dave Eggers passage from the prologue of The Executioner’s Song (1:03:22).
Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso 