Jameela Jamil tells Penn Badgley why she ‘pulled out' of You season four audition
Topics: You, Netflix, Penn Badgley, Film and TV, Celebrity
Ali Condon
Featured Image Credit: Sipa US / PA Images / Alamy
Topics: You, Netflix, Penn Badgley, Film and TV, Celebrity
Jameela Jamil had originally auditioned for season four of Netflix's hit TV series You, but pulled out at the last minute.
The actor, best known for playing Tahani Al-Jamil in The Good Place, has admitted to Penn Badgley why she decided not to join him in his show's latest season set in London.
Speaking on Badgley's podcast Podcrushed, Jamil said that she was too 'shy' to play a character who was supposed to be 'quite sexy'.
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"I don't do sex scenes. In fact, I was supposed to audition for the most recent season of your show," she told Badgley who plays protagonist Joe Goldberg.
"My character was supposed to be quite sexy, and I pulled out of the audition, because I am so shy about anything sexy that I can't."
It's not clear who, exactly, Jamil was up to play - especially since there are a few raunchy characters in the latest season.
It might have been Kate, played by Charlotte Ritchie, who has quite a few heated moments with the notorious Joe Goldberg, or perhaps Gemma, played by Eve Austin, who comes on quite strong to Joe before things go haywire.
Jamil continued: "And then you f***ing came out and were like, 'Yeah, I'm not doing sex scenes anymore.'
"And I was like, 'I didn't even know that was a boundary that we could draw.' But then I was like, 'I should have gone and done the f***ing show!'"
She added: "I can't even watch sex scenes in films... Even on my own, I have to fast forward through sex scenes because I've become so shy about watching other people."
After season four of You dropped on Netflix, Badgley revealed that he had asked showrunners to cool off on the 'intimacy scenes'.
Explaining the decision on his podcast, he revealed that he wanted to cut out the racy scenes out of respect to his wife Domino Kirke.
"This was actually a decision I had made before I took the show," he shared.
"I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned it publicly, but one of the main things is, ‘Do I want to put myself back on a career path where I’m always [the] romantic lead?'
"Fidelity in every relationship, especially my marriage, is important to me. It just got to a point where I don’t want to do that."
Badgley was thrilled that, even though he had signed a contract for You, and knew he couldn't really get out of whatever the team wanted from him, series creator Sera Gamble was all for his suggestion.
"She didn’t even bat an eye. She was really glad that I was that honest," he said.
"She was sort of almost, I want to say empowered, she had a really positive response. They came back with a phenomenal reduction."