Madeline Brewer is a die-hard You fan. She’s seen every season (starting from its humble beginning on Lifetime) and knows all the lore. If there were a You trivia game out there, she would certainly dominate. So it’s not totally surprising to hear the actress has low-key been plotting—or shall we say manifesting—her way onto the Netflix show since it first aired. It would be a six-year wait, but luckily for Brewer, the showrunners had just the character in mind for her for the show’s epic fifth and final season. Enter Bronte.
We meet Brewer’s Bronte, an appropriately named aspiring playwright and bibliophile, where the story of You began: Mooney’s bookstore in New York City. The mysterious young woman catches the eye of our murderous antihero Joe (Penn Badgley) following an awkward late-night run-in while she was stealing (or, in her defense, borrowing) books from Mooney’s. Hiding some secrets of her own, Bronte is utterly appealing to Joe, but can she really be trusted? What hand will she play in Joe’s eventual demise? Those are the big questions this season.
In addition to her pivotal role in You, Brewer is saying bye to her longest-running character Janine as The Handmaid’s Tale takes its final bow this month. She might be in her “final season” era, but as they say, when one door closes, another opens, and Brewer has big plans for what’s next.
You get a call about a part in season five of You—what are your first thoughts?
I’ve been telling my agent about me wanting to be on this show since the show was on Lifetime because my agent represents Penn [Badgley]. I’ve been a huge fan of the show since season one and have gently suggested to her year after year, “If there’s anything available, I would love to be on that show.” So this year finally, there was a perfect spot for me.
You manifested this from the very beginning.
I mean, my agent is a bit of a witch. She’s very powerful.
As a fan since day one, what do you really love about the show?
It’s subversive. The issues [they cover] right from the get-go… Season one, to me, is a perfect season of television. It is incredibly enjoyable to watch. It’s bingeable, if you will, and it’s engaging. The second the season’s over, you’re like, “Whoa, who was that man? Why did he do the things that he did?”
They got the Gossip Girl guy, and people are gonna fall madly in love with him, and it forces you to ask yourself why. Am I just in love with a beautiful face? Is it that easy? Is it that simple? What will I allow someone to get away with just because they’re good-looking or charming or charismatic? What does that say about me? What does that say about society? What does it also say about the fact that he’s a good-looking white man living in New York? Where is the bar for dating? I think it’s the apologies that we make for beautiful white people and beautiful white men, the apologies we’re willing to make for them and allow them to get away with certain things that just wouldn’t fly in other demographics. I think it does a really great job of showing that mirror to us, to society, that this is an unhealthy thing. Penn has done such a beautiful job, and it’s so considerate and so responsible of him to take on this role and to understand who this man is and that he’s not a heartthrob. He’s a dangerous person. He’s a literal murderer. I just think it’s so smart, and I love that.
Let’s talk about your girl Bronte. What really excited you about this character?
When I did my first meeting with the showrunners Michael [Foley] and Justin [W. Lo], they gave me a bit of a lowdown about her and the vibe that they were setting for the season. They were setting the stage for it, and truly, I would have played anybody. I would have just walked by in the background. But I was so lucky that they had this character that they’ve come up with—this fascinating, dangerous, strange, brave woman. That’s how she struck me initially. I was like, “What a brave, strange person.” The more I got to learn about her, the more I thought she was just out of her mind. But that’s also the fun stuff.
