'You' star Penn Badgley explains response to fans romanticizing his stalker role

Penn Badgley recently made headlines for stopping fans from admiring his character in new Netflix series You.

“It's my first time to go viral!” Penn said when mentioned about it during the 'In Conversation with YOU' event held at The Peninsula Manila earlier, January 14.

Penn and his co-actor Shay Mitchell are currently in the Philippines to promote their new psychological thriller series.

The 32-year-old American actor said that he feels responsible for keeping the fans from romanticizing his charming but creepy stalker role in You.

READ: 'You' star Shay Mitchell relate negative effect of social media

“First of all, I think we, as the people who made the show, should take the responsibility because You used a charming guy, that was obviously what they wanted.

“You know, it's always been a push-and-pull between me and the directors, the writers--wanting me to be charming and I was always like, less interested…

“I think it was always the balance between making this guy real and also he's not a real person.

“I was not thinking of a clinical portrayal of a real psychopath. I was thinking sometimes of that.

“Then, on the other times, he's meant to represent all the things inside all of us.”

Penn continued by saying that his character, named Joe, may also represent the Internet troll.

“Joe is in some ways like an Internet troll made real, which is a terrifying serial killer,” he said.

“I mean, really, because the kind of things that people say on the Internet. How do often do they talk about like they're like, 'I'm gonna kill you.'

“Even one of these tweets I actually ended up following one of the women who I had a correspondence with 'cause she had said something and that one went viral.

“Apparently, people tweeting at her, it was a guy who tweeted at her like, 'Maybe I should send murderers to your house just so you know the difference.'

“The meta response to the show is so deep that if we're not careful, Joe can make you bring out the Joe in us.

“I think I'm the person who must be thinking about the delicate balance of these things just because I'm that guy.”

Netflix recently announced that You will have a second season, which means Penn will be back to reprise his role as Joe.

Does Penn see himself portraying the role in a long time?

“I don't know if I can do this for such a long period of time,” Penn said during the conversation with Philippine media.

“You know, when you do a film, for instance, it's like two months and you don't do it again.

“This is like six months a year and maybe will go on season after season.

“Killing more people? I guess that's getting less and less more funny.

“So, you know, I think I have a lot of reservations, which is appropriate because now we can all watch something and feel somewhat responsible.

“That's the thing, to a degree, everybody else is consuming it in this way, that it is enjoyable.

“It's like, I kinda have to take on the burden of making it somewhat real for myself. And that's just not… You know what I mean, it's just a bit different.

“But I appreciate the fact that it's being consumed the way that it is.”