‘You’ Season 4: The Reason They Ditched Paris for London
You has gone international for season 4, but not exactly where season 3 suggested. The season 3 finale suggested Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley) would spend time in Paris. You Season 4 begins with Joe in London, where the Netflix drama filmed. Showrunner Sera Gamble explained the switch in a recent interview.
Gamble was a guest on The Hollywood Reporter’s TV’s Top Five podcast on Feb. 10. She explained how You Season 4 ended up in London. Part 1 of season 4 is now streaming and part 2 premieres March 9.
Why ‘You’ Season 4 said ‘non’ to France
Gamble said the producers of You did discuss having Joe remain in Paris. They had the resources to do it.
“There was conversation about Paris,” Gamble said on TV’s Top Five. “We assumed the same thing when we left him there. Greg Berlanti’s company makes The Flight Attendant and has a lot of experience going to several places in the course of a season. There was a practical producorial conversation that started to edge us over to London.”
Gamble also felt that Joe, being American, would be more lost in France.
Probably more importantly, the more we talked about the themes of the season and the kind of people we wanted to have him fall in with, the more we realized that the beating heart of [the season is] this old money aristocracy as viewed through an American lens. It’s Harry and Meghan who are dominating the news cycle in the United States. Name me an aristocrat from France. With all respect to French people, most Americans cannot answer this question, so we realized: bring people from all over the place. We auditioned German actors, French actors, people from all different places but let’s situate it in the beating heart of where our little colony came from.
Sera Gamble, TV’s Top Five, 2/10/23
‘You’ Season 4 also wanted to avoid making French jokes
The ugly American in France is such a common trope that You didn’t even want to risk going there.
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The thing about it is I’m really conscious, most of us are very conscious that Americans have a reputation for U.S. centrism and a sense of arrogance that we’re the center of everything. A lot of judgment about foreign cultures. We didn’t approach the season like that. Personally speaking, I’ve never really had that because my parents are immigrants to this country and I was surrounded by people who are not from here for my whole life. So I’ve always felt that we’re part of a bigger world. That’s why I so frequently make sure I say this because I’m thinking about the audience that’s not necessarily American. I really do want to put that asterisk on it. Like, we really didn’t make this season to make fun of you. We did this to make fun of an American called Joe Goldberg.
Sera Gamble, TV’s Top Five, 2/10/23
Still, London was cheaper
Gamble was frank about the considerations of You Season 4’s location. It wasn’t entirely artistic. London was more practical, especially filming in 2022.
“It’s always part of the conversation because we are not one of those shows that just rests on a pile of money,” Gamble said. “Not only do we have a real television budget, think back to when we were in season 1. The show was built on a budget for Lifetime, a basic cable outlet. These things do come into consideration.”
In the years since You premiered, COVID protocols have also added expense to shows.
“I always feel like whenever we talk about anything production related, any challenge that you think about making television, just multiply it by five to start the conversation in the era of COVID,” Gamble said. “That changes from month to month to month. I’m sure it’s different for people who are going into production now than a few months ago. Every aspect of production has been touched by the last couple of years. The least you can do for yourself is to go to a city that has some infrastructure, has a deep well of crew, people who know how to make things, a good acting pool and ideally some kind of tax incentive.”
