With the third season of You now available to watch on Netflix, many fans of the serial killer drama have been left wondering what happened to one of their favourite characters from season two, teenager Ellie Alves (as played by Jenna Ortega).
The second season followed everyone’s favourite murderer, Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley) as he left the scene of his original crimes in New York and fled to Los Angeles to start a new life, using the name Will Bettelheim so as not to be discovered by his ex-girlfriend Candace (who had survived his attempt to kill her).
When Joe wasn’t fantasising about his latest ‘You’ – chef Love Quinn (Victoria Pedretti) – he was reluctantly getting to know his new neighbours, Delilah Alves (Carmela Zumbado) and her 15-year-old sister Ellie.
It’s Ellie who coaches Joe on how to have an authentic social media presence –essential in a city like LA, of course – and Joe becomes her protector when he learns that Ellie is friendly with a comedian named Henderson whom he believes is a sexual predator who abused Delilah (no prizes for guessing Henderson doesn’t survive too long after Joe discovers that).
Unfortunately, Joe’s brief affair with Delilah ends with a jealous Love murdering her, leaving Ellie alone.
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What happened to Ellie?
After Love confesses that she killed Delilah, she tells Joe how she plans to get away with murder. She wants to stage Delilah’s death as suicide, and frame Ellie for Henderson’s murder – while the Quinn family lawyers would get the case closed, it would mean Ellie would be taken by Child Protective Services.
Instead, Joe goes to find Ellie and tell her that Delilah is dead. He sends her away with money he’s taken from the Quinn business safe to start a new life in Florida before she can be taken away (we know she gets there safely as Joe receives a postcard from her before the end of season two).
While we don’t see Ellie in the third season, it’s clear that she is still a part of Joe’s life. He continues to send her money in secret, selling rare books he is stealing from the library for cash rather than using Love’s money, presumably so that the Quinn family can’t find her.
When asked if Ellie could return in season four, show runner Sera Gamble told the Hollywood Reporter: “I don’t see why not. Ellie is still in Joe’s life. He’s sending her money. She hates him, but he is sending her money. So that door remains open for us.”
Actress Jenna Ortega, who plays Ellie and is next to be seen in the new Scream movie, has also hinted that she would be happy to return to the show. “I love that [You] set,” she told Cosmopolitan in April this year. “The team behind it, the writers are so witty and so funny, and then also just to work with Penn Badgley again. I had such an incredible time there that if they would like to have me back, I’m more than happy to take a few digs at Joe again.”
You seasons 1-3 are streaming on Netflix. If you want to watch something else check out our best movies on Netflix guide or best series on Netflix. You can also order Caroline Kepnes’ You from Amazon.
If you’re looking for more to watch, check out our TV Guide.