‘You’ star Penn Badgley ‘developed a superhuman ability’ to not blink

Penn Badgley is revealing the unusual acting technique that he’s mastered after five seasons of You. 

In a video interview with Entertainment Weekly (above), the 38-year-old actor explains that he can now hold his gaze for a surprising amount of time without ever needing to blink thanks to his time spent starring as the baby-faced serial killer on the hit Netflix thriller. 

“Joe is nothing if not a starer. And I now, like, I could stare forever,” Badgley says, before showcasing the ability by widening his eyes and staring directly into the camera. “Sometimes I develop a sort of superhuman ability to really not blink, and then blinking becomes a choice. You just become aware of like, everything. Every little thing you do, it’s like a choice.”

Badgley also sheds some light on how he used his facial expressions to showcase what Joe’s really thinking in a scene.

“He shifts often from friendly and charming to very dark and menacing,” he shares. “This shift, it’s returning to natural state. It is, I suppose, just the removal of a mask.”

Badgley explains that he first crafted Joe’s mask during a season 1 episode in which the character creepily follows his girlfriend Guinevere Beck (Elizabeth Lail) to a home in the woods without her knowledge.

“He’s stalking her in the house preposterously, like, he’s really close to her,” he recalls. “At some point he’s underneath a bed, and the entire time he’s got an eye swollen shut, a gash on his forehead, and swollen lip and bruises and dried blood all over, so I felt like I was wearing a mask.”

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Now, Badgley is closing out his chapter as Joe in the fifth and final season of You, currently streaming on Netflix. “Joe is certainly the most evil character I’ve ever played,” he says. “And now I’m saying adieu.” 

And, as far as Badgley is concerned, he recently told Entertainment Weekly that he fully believes his villainous character fully got the ending that he deserved.

“The finale, to me, it’s doing everything that could possibly be done in a satisfying manner,” he said. “I think he’s delivered to his truly appropriate end. And then the only thing left is to realize [that] there is no ending that could satisfy anyone 100 percent, because justice for a man like Joe isn’t in and of itself satisfying. I mean, he’s an abuser. He’s a killer. He’s a bad person. So I think being satisfied is a positive thing.”

Watch Badgley share his best tips for playing a serial killer onscreen in the video above.