Penn Badgley Channels Joe Goldberg to Narrate Kristen Bell’s Latest Series—and Yes, It’s as Wild as It Sounds

Penn Badgley channels his You character Joe Goldberg to narrate Kristen Bell’s newest show Nobody Wants This. It’s a full-circle moment for former Gossip Girl co-stars. Watch the wild crossover video.

You’d be forgiven if you don’t remember that You‘s Penn Badgley and Veronica Mars‘s Kristen Bell (yes, I know she’s had great roles since, but she will always be Veronica Mars to me!) were on the same television show. That’s right! If you watched it live back in the day or binged it during the pandemic, you’ll remember Badgley starred as outsider-turned-insider Dan Humphrey, while Bell narrated every episode as the iconic voice of Gossip Girl.

Spoiler alert for Gossip Girl ahead (video included below). Though honestly, if you haven’t been spoiled by now for a show that aired from 2007–2012, that’s on you.

At the end of the original Gossip Girl, it’s revealed that the titular character is none other than Dan Humphrey. Cue the collective groan heard around the world. It made no sense; it ruined character arcs; it kind of broke the internet, and yet… it also meant that Kristen Bell had been the voice of Dan Humphrey, played by Badgley, all along. Mind. Blown. (Or at least rattled.)

Flash forward to You, where Badgley not only stars but narrates the show like a highbrow podcast of internal chaos and unhinged romance. He’s become, in his own way, a narrator savant—stepping right into Kristen Bell territory.

It brings me an absurd amount of joy to share that Badgley recently took a stab at narrating Bell’s newest hit Netflix series Nobody Wants This, co-starring Seth Cohen himself, Adam Brody. (The early 2000s continue to own me, apparently.) But wait—it gets better. Badgley doesn’t just narrate… he narrates Bell’s character in the unmistakably creepy voice of Joe Goldberg.

Are you confused yet? Yeah, me too. But it’s weirdly poetic—Gossip Girl becomes Joe Goldberg, becomes Kristen Bell, becomes Veronica Mars, becomes… I don’t even know anymore.

Watch the video below and let it all wash over you. I promise it’ll make more sense when you hear it. Sort of.

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