You Season 3 just came out just in time for spooky season. In the new season, we follow Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley) and Love Quinn (Victoria Pedretti) as they begin their new suburban life with a newborn baby. Of course things don’t stay peaceful for too long. As things go dark, characters’ pasts and their secrets are revealed.
Fans are now beginning to believe there’s more to Joe Goldberg than what’s shown in the series. His character is creepishly similar to Gossip Girl’s Dan Humphrey, who is also played by Penn Badgley.
The conspiracy theory begins with the idea that Joe Goldberg and Dan Humphrey are actually the same person, and that Joe is Dan in disguise. This theory suggests that the Gossip Girl story of Dan, is actually the backstory of Joe.
In the finale of Gossip Girl, Dan reveals that he was the online blogger that had been stalking his friends and revealing all of their secrets. He claims he created the Gossip Girl site for “love”, and to “write his way into [Serena’s] world” to impress her. Sound familiar?
The theory further suggests that Joe’s character is a way for Dan to live out the darker side of himself, a step up from just aggressive online blogging.
Penn Badgley even commented on the theory saying, “dialogue between these two shows, that are very different, but at the same time, there’s this very similar vein.”
You Season 3 gives us insight into Joe’s past and shows that Joe grew up in a poor family background, similar to how Dan felt in Gossip Girl.
While the character similarities are for sure present, it’s unlikely they were intentional. It’s still fun to theorize though.
