Fans, prepare yourselves – Ellie is returning. Jenna Ortega’s character, introduced in You Season 2, is making her comeback for the fifth and final season, which lands on Netflix tonight.
Our excitement reached an all-time high when the teaser trailer dropped last month, and we've been well and truly ready to unravel the next chapter in Joe Goldberg’s twisted saga ever since. In the trailer, Penn Badgley, as the eerily enigmatic Joe, sets the stage: "Hello, you. You're back. In the greatest city in the world." But the real question is: who from Joe’s past will come back to haunt him as he returns to New York?”
What time does You season 5 drop on Netlix?
Netflix previously announced an exact premiere date for Season 5 of You of Thursday, April 24, 2025. For those of us watching along from Australia, expect the episodes to drop at 5pm AEST.
Watch the official trailer for You season 5
You can catch up on the previous teaser, below:
And relive the first trailer, here:
Who is in the cast?
Showrunner Sera Gamble revealed that the team had always hoped to bring Ellie back, but faced scheduling conflicts with Ortega’s Wednesday commitments. “We wanted Ellie back, but Jenna was tied up,” Gamble told IndieWire. “Seeing Jenna’s rise has been such a pleasure. We always had ideas for Ellie, and now the timing is perfect.”
But Ellie isn’t the only familiar face expected to return. The trailer hints at the reappearance of key characters from past seasons, many of whom Joe has wronged along the way, including Dr Nicky (John Stamos), Paco, Peach’s family, Marie Anne, and Nadia. Each of these characters holds unfinished business with Joe, raising the stakes for the show’s final act.
There will also be a series of new characters added in season five, including Bronte (Madeline Brewer), a playwright who scores a job at Joe's bookstore; Teddy Lockwood (Griffin Matthews), Joe's brother-in-law; and twins Reagan and Maddie Lockwood (both played by Anna Camp), Joe's sisters-in-law.
What is the plot?
Season 5 is shaping up to be a full-circle moment. Joe Goldberg is back in New York, the setting of You’s original season, and this time, it’s not just his obsessive nature that’s in question – it's his legacy. After four seasons of manipulation, murder, and reinvention, Joe is being forced to confront the lives he’s wrecked along the way.
Speaking to Netflix's Tudum, Executive Producer Justin W. Lo said, “We loved the idea of things coming full circle for him. We’re excited by the fact that Joe came home as such a different person than [who] we saw in Season 1. At the core of our final story for Joe is this dichotomy of the old and the new.”
We also know that season five takes place three years after Joe and Kate (Charlotte Ritchie, she/her) left London for New York City. These days, Kate is CEO of the Lockwood Corporation, and Joe is her loyal husband who has been dubbed Prince Charming by the adoring public.
“One of the most fun things about this season is the Prince Charming aspect, that Joe is actually famous,” Lo said. “All the other seasons, he’s been really under the radar. That’s how he is able to move from season to season and place to place, because of his anonymity. Now that he is well known in New York, social media is on him. That’s something fun for us to explore.”
Ellie’s role in this new season is especially significant. After losing her sister Delilah at the hands of Love (Victoria Pedretti) in Season 2, Ellie was left to fend for herself. Joe sent her money from afar, a symbolic (and deeply twisted) gesture of his “care” for her well-being. Her return could signal an opportunity for long-awaited closure – or an opportunity for revenge.
Season 5 will also revisit the storylines of other survivors, victims, and overlooked figures from Joe’s past, many of whom still have a score to settle. With Joe back on his old stomping ground, the show promises to bring every unresolved thread to its dramatic conclusion.
