Caroline Kepnes invented 'You's' Joe Goldberg, and she can't get him out of her head

Caroline Kepnes, author of the popular "You" series, says writing from the perspective of killer Joe Goldberg has meant his infamous voice has a permanent place in her head.

The writer tells TODAY.com that she hears him "all the time," especially during periods when she's happier and busier than usual, and using social media more frequently.

"He's disgusted. He's in the back of my head like, 'You shut up,'" she jokes. "It's pretty loud."

Kepnes explains that the Goldberg character was created after the death of her father, whom she says hated social media. She considered a situation where someone could use these platforms for nefarious purposes, like Joe does.

"You know the way we have to pull ourselves back from looking too much and how it’s created this ability to know things we're not supposed to know?" she says. "What if someone was bad?"

For an author of thrillers, Kepnes says she scares easily. But that's also what's fueled her to write within the horror genre.

"It feels like a natural defense mechanism to be the one creating the scare," she says. "I think the worst and it's something to do with all that nervousness."

The most recent season of "You," which hit Netflix in 2024, strays from her latest novel in the series, "For You and Only You."

She appreciates that people are writing two separate "Joe stories" from miles away.

"We've gone in different directions, which I think is cool," Kepnes says. "I feel like if you like the books, you find the show. If you like the show, you find the books. There’s a new Joe world for everyone."

Kepnes says the show's deviation is partly because actor Penn Badgley, who plays Joe, has made the character his own — which she says has been "the coolest thing."

Badgley recently went public with a creative decision of his own regarding Joe.

On a February episode of Podcrushed, which he co-hosts, he said he requested to "You" director Sera Gamble that his character have no more sex scenes, citing his marriage.

“Fidelity in every relationship, and especially in my marriage, is important to me. It’s got to the point where I don’t want to do that,” he said.

He continued, “I said to Sera, ‘My desire would be zero, to go from 100 to zero.’ But I signed this contract. I signed up for this show. I know what I did. You can’t take this aspect out of the DNA of the concept. So how much less can you make it, was my question to them.”

Badgely said Gamble had a "really positive response," as fans likely noticed in the lack of intimacy scenes during Season Four.

Though Kepnes was not involved in the decision, she shared her reaction.

"I feel like if everyone in every work place got to say, 'This makes me uncomfortable,' it would be such a happier world," she says.

Kepnes adds that the show's creative team all seemed to work around the newfound direction and "handled it really well," saying that the change could have even led to "new turns and twists" for writers.

The fifth season of "You" will be the final chapter for Joe, but it might not be the end for Kepnes' time with the character.

"I'm never going to say there's never another book … I'll never say I'm done," she says.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com