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'You' showrunners reveal what Jenna Ortega's return in the final season would have looked like
Netflix

'You' showrunners reveal what Jenna Ortega's return in the final season would have looked like

The fifth and final season of You brought back some very familiar faces to help take Joe Goldberg, played by Penn Badgley, down for good. However, one character that fans were disappointed didn't return was Jenna Ortega's Ellie, who was part of the cast in the second season. 

Previous showrunner Sera Gamble shared in an IndieWire interview that they wanted to bring back the actress for the fourth season, but were unable to due so because of her schedule and new series, Wednesday.

It sadly seems that it was a similar case this time around. Co-Showrunner, executive producer, and writer Michael Foley told Business Insider, "That was complicated by the fact that she's doing Wednesday in Ireland and it just seemed like a non-starter. We just couldn't figure out a way to make it work."

Co-Showrunner, executive producer, and writer Justin W. Lo revealed Ellie would have been "pro-Joe" in the montage before laughing. He then added, "Well, I think... hmm. It's a good question. It could have gone either way. You could make an argument for pro-Joe, because he was there for her during a very difficult time in her life. But you could also say, I think Ellie's very smart and she probably knows that he had something to do with her sister's death, even though it was Love. So she could have turned against him as well."

There was also a scrapped storyline where the character would have been "a benefactor to Dominique and Phoenix" with Foley explaining, "That was a thought that I'm sure when we were putting things together, we felt like maybe we could make this work, and we just simply couldn't."

As for the rest of the montage with past cast members, Lo said he thinks they got "mostly everyone that they wanted," expressing, "We did this thing in the writer's room where we put a list of people who would be pro-Joe, against Joe, and sort of neutral, and then we brainstormed what they would be saying about him. One of our favorites was Paco, of course, because Paco is pro-Joe, but what he says ends up screwing Joe over in a major way. So, that was one of our favorite discoveries."

Lo further told Gold Derby that the idea was for Joe's past victims to "put him on some kind of trial; to tell them, in their words, what he did to them; to try to hold him to account; to see if he would change."

One character that fans were happy to see return was Guinevere Beck, portrayed by Elizabeth Lail, who was murdered at the end of the first season. 

"The Beck storyline always brings tears to my eyes because it is so deep. And I say that Beck really got a raw deal in season one and she didn't do anything to deserve what she got. And she has been that symbol of innocence that got marred this whole series, really," Lo said. "So, it felt fitting to be able to give her justice. And that's why I think that the connection to Bronte was so powerful. You can feel it all through the season as soon as we learn the connection between them in that fifth episode."

As for Lail, she "loved it," Lo commented. "She was so excited to be part of the final season and she loves this character, too. So it was very meaningful for her to be able to be such a big part of the end of Joe Goldberg's story."

The killer finale of You is now streaming on Netflix. 

Sophia Soto

Sophia Soto is a writer and interviewer with a passion for all things entertainment. She is a Senior Reporter at The Nerds of Color and contributes to Yardbarker, Screensphere, Den of Geek, What to Watch, Nerdtropolis, and Temple of Geek. You can see her past work on Remezcla, Young Hollywood, Looper, Paste Magazine, Primetimer, Soundsphere, and Starry Constellation Magazine

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