Why Netflix's You had to make this major change from the book
Note: Spoilers ahead for anyone who hasn't watched Netflix's You.
Fans of Caroline Kepnes' best-selling novel You will have noticed a major addition in Netflix's 10-part adaptation that didn't exist in the book – the character of Joe Goldberg's young and vulnerable neighbour, Paco (Luca Padovan).
Joe befriends and protects Paco – a fellow avid reader – whose mother struggles with drug addiction and is the victim of domestic violence by an abusive partner.
Paco also brings out Joe's unexpected human side, with viewers finding themselves conflicted about Joe's character – we know he's a serial-killing stalker from hell, but yet he seems to genuinely care about this young boy and his well-being.
The show's co-creator Sera Gamble has revealed that co-writer Greg Berlanti concocted the character of Paco, not just to convey that Joe is at odds with himself, but to give viewers more of an understanding into Joe's own childhood, and identity.
"Paco was Greg's invention when we were writing the pilot," Gamble told Digital Spy. "The beginning of the conversation wasn't specific, it was just like, unlike in a novel where you can comfortably sit inside someone's head for 300 pages and feel like a lot has happened, in TV you need your character to talk to someone else.
"Joe is alone so much in the book, just thinking, and so we needed to start to introduce characters that enabled him to talk about what he's thinking. And Paco was originally conceived as a character who would actually fill in a lot of information for you about Joe’s childhood.
"You can tell a lot about Joe from the way he treats Paco, but also here's a young person who's looking for guidance and so it organically puts Joe in a situation that he's sharing his life philosophy in a way that's instructive to us about what he's doing."
Related: You on Netflix season 2 could see Joe Goldberg "seeking redemption", teases showrunner
Gamble says season two will also delve into Joe's past and his dysfunctional relationship with bookshop owner and twisted mentor Mr Mooney.
"We'll be going into Joe's earlier life in season two – naturally when you're deep inside a character the way we all are, we want to know more, we want to move around in his entire life and start to make those connections.
"The whole time that we're in the writers room talking about what that story might be, I don't think we ever have that conversation where somebody doesn't say that thing that is a guiding principle for us – Joe had a pretty terrible childhood and that does contribute to who he is as an adult.
"But we also want to make it clear that a lot of us had shitty childhoods, and most of us don't choose to do what Joe Goldberg does."
You is available to stream on Netflix now.
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