You Season 4: What Happens Next In The Books?

Clues for the plot of You season 4 may well derive from what happens next in the eponymous book series given the Netflix show’s continued ties to its source material. Caroline Kepnes’ twisting tale of obsession consists of three books to date: “You,” “Hidden Bodies,” and the recently released “You Love Me.” While there are some stark differences between Kepnes’ original plot and Netflix’s parsing of her story, both center around the dark protagonist Joe Goldberg, who covets and kills with equal ferocity throughout You.

Netflix’s You season 3 concludes dramatically, with Joe (Penn Badgley) managing to outwit his emotionally frayed wife, Love Quinn (Victoria Pedretti), in a taut chess match of wills before burning down his Madre Linda existence and fleeing to France. You season 3 marked the Netflix series’ first big deviation from its source material, with Love and Joe’s suburban psychopathy a plot completely unexplored in Kepnes’ book series. With Madre Linda in the rearview mirror for Joe, however, Netflix’s You has an opportunity to realign with Kepnes’ new story as seen in You Love Me.

The plot of the book You Love Me may well act as a pointer for the direction of You season 4’s story, given the open-ended finale of the prior season. Joe living in France could yet be a red herring for Netflix’s audiences, with You Love Me taking the affable serial killer’s story on a completely different tangent that realigns with the end of You‘s second season. Here’s what happens next in the You books and what it could mean for You season 4.

Joe Goes To Prison

One of the biggest events right out of the gate in You Love Me is Joe’s incarceration, which sees Joe remanded for an unspecified amount of time following the bloodbath he causes in Los Angeles at the end of Hidden Bodies. While there is ultimately not enough evidence to convict the You‘s previously likable and sympathetic Joe of Beck and Peach’s murders due to the Quinn family’s far-reaching legal tendrils, his narration states he has lost “a few months” of his life while the case is settled out of court. This marks a big deviation from how Joe escapes You season 2’s events, with Love murdering Delilah in the cell before the couple flees to Madre Linda. Starting You season 4 with Joe incarcerated would certainly be a subversion of audience expectations, given Joe’s apparent escape to a different country at the end of You season 3.

Joe Moves To Bainbridge Island

After his acquittal, Joe severs contact with Love (who is still alive in the books) and his first son Henry/Forty, introduced in the show in You season 3, and moves to the small city of Bainbridge Island in Washington state. Immediately reverting to type, Joe once again finds a job at a Pacific Northwest library and fixates on the new object of his affections: Mary Kay. Mary is married with a teenage daughter, meaning Joe immediately begins envisioning macabre scenarios where Mary will be free to date him. This move to Washington is still very much in the cards for You season 4, with Joe’s open-ended Paris coda seemingly leaving him free to wander the world in search of the new “You.”

Joe Tries To Change

Following his time in prison, Joe reforms his murderous obsession in You Love Me, resolving to no longer murder people in order to get closer to “You.” This proves a tough assignment when chasing his latest desire, Mary Kay, as Joe is instantly caught spying on Mary by her best friend, Melanda. Joe, surprisingly steadfast in his new resolve, instead typically locks Melanda in one of his cages, where she dies by suicide. Despite his insistence on not using violence to solve his problems, Joe actually racks up quite the inadvertent body count in You Love Me, with no less than four characters perishing due to his uncharacteristic indecision. Joe’s attempt at reform is already something You season 3 hinted at as Joe makes promises he cannot keep to his infant son Henry, so expect You season 4 to try a similar tactic as Joe adjusts to a brand-new reality once again.

Joe Falls Out With The Quinns

Contrary to the plothole-riddled You season 3, which sees Joe, Love, and Dottie Quinn (Saffron Burrows) playing a bizarre form of house, Joe is ostracized as an enemy of the Quinns in You Love Me. Following his separation from Love in the books, Joe cannot help but continue to stalk the Quinn family as he checks in on his ex-lover and his estranged son. Despite the random nature of Forty’s death in the books, the Quinn family still holds Joe responsible for the emotional abuse he inflicted on both Forty and Love, leading them to bribe him with $4 million to leave them alone forever. However, in typical fashion, Joe cannot help himself and continues to stalk the Quinn family online, leading Love to summon him to a crisis meeting in L.A. This is one thread likely to play out differently in You season 4 given Love’s apparent death and Dottie’s enforced rehabilitation, although a narrative in which Joe elicits money from the Quinns could still arise.

Love Tries To Kill Joe

In the penultimate event of You Love Me, Love attempts to murder Joe after luring him to Los Angeles on the premise of figuring out a more stable future for their son. When Joe arrives, however, Love is hysterical, screaming at Joe to tell her he still loves her. When Joe refuses, Love shoots Joe in the head before turning the gun on herself. While Joe miraculously survives this attempted murder, no room for interpretation as to Love’s fate is given in what is by far the most harrowing chapter of You Love Me. On the surface, this scenario seems impossible for You season 4 given Love’s apparent death at the hands of Joe and in the house fire. However, bringing back Love to fulfill this You twist ending like season 3 would set up an immediately pulsating conflict for the series’ new installment.

Joe Gets Married Again (Sort Of)

The final act of You Love Me sees Joe recover from his wounds and marry the latest object of his desires, Mary Kay. Following the suicide of Mary’s husband, Joe is free to pursue Mary, who inevitably falls for his charm and overt attentions. You Love Me seems to be heading for a picturebook ending, with Joe and Mary hastily tying the knot before disaster befalls the couple. Her teenage daughter kills Mary Kay in a heated argument, during which she is pushed down the stairs and falls to her death. To compound matters, Joe is then informed that his marriage to Mary Kay is not legitimate at the end of the book as they had not booked an officiant for their wedding. This ending is still very much on the updated cards for You season 4, with another disastrous end to a relationship a fitting way to round off Netflix’s latest inevitably tumultuous You installment.

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