Penn Badgley chooses who's worse among his characters Joe Goldberg from You and Dan Humphrey from Gossip Girl

Penn Badgley recently spoke up on the character that he considers the worst among Joe Goldberg and Dan Humphrey, featured on You and Gossip Girl, respectively.

On April 23, 2025, the actor spoke to Alex Cooper on the Call Her Daddy podcast, where the former questioned who is the worst among Dan and Joe. Penn Badgley said in his response that it was Goldberg and explained the reasons behind the same by adding:

“I’m sorry, was Dan masturbating in the street and strangling women? I’m sorry to say it so like pronounced, but I mean, everyone was like he needs to chill. I’m like ‘No, bro, bro you watched it. That’s what he does.'"

Penn Badgley, who played both the characters, then started referring to the worst thing done by Dan.

The John Tucker Must Die star continued by addressing Dan and added:

“The worst thing Dan did was, I mean, he did like, what he did was sociopathic just in terms of being Gossip Girl sorry.”

Notably, Joe Goldberg has been the main character of You and was initially portrayed as a bookstore manager who develops an obsession towards his girlfriends, following which he tries to control their lives in any manner, including the removal of anyone who might turn out to be a threat to his relationship.

The character will return for the final time in the upcoming season of the Netflix series, scheduled to start airing from April 24, 2025.

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Joe Goldberg on You: Penn Badgley addresses the experience of playing the role

Goldberg has been an important part of the psychological thriller since its premiere in 2018. As mentioned, the character will appear again in the final season. Penn appeared for an interview with USA Today on Tuesday, April 22, opening up on how the role left an impact on his life.

Penn Badgley initially referred to his character and expressed satisfaction by saying that the makers are finally “putting him to bed.” He then began recalling when he signed up to appear as Joe Goldberg, revealing that he was 30 at the time.

The Young & the Restless star also disclosed how he has been connected with the character and added:

“He’s been like my convict little brother, who I’ve had to counsel through our 30s together. And in that way, he’s kind of taught me to be a better man. He’s failing miserably, but I’ve had to reflect on all the things I share with him, even if they’re not that escalated or that magnified.”

Penn Badgley stated that playing the role of Joe Goldberg has been a “life-changing experience”, considering that he had the opportunity to explore concepts such as masculinity and abuse.

In another conversation with The Guardian earlier this month, the Do Over star addressed the show’s finale by saying that he does not have to speak about the character once the series ends. He opened up on how the show changed him in real life and continued:

“I’ve been reflecting on love and what that means, and what it means to be a man and a father and a husband, [while] all these things were starting to happen to me in real life as well.”

Meanwhile, the final season of You would feature ten episodes and is the only season that won’t include Sera Gamble as a showrunner.