What Happens to Nadia in <i>You</i> Season 4?
Spoilers below.
After assuming a new identity as a college professor named Jonathan Moore, Joe Goldberg finds himself at the center of a murder mystery in You season 4. He even enlists the help of one of his literature students, Nadia (Amy-Leigh Hickman), to help him understand the mechanics of a whodunnit as he tries to uncover the identity of the the Eat the Rich Killer targeting London’s elite.
The killer claims more and more victims throughout the season, and at the end of part 1, we (and Joe) are led to believe that the author Rhys Montrose is the prolific murderer. However, part 2 flips a switch, revealing that Joe himself is the real killer, but he had no idea. Instead, Joe truly believed that Rhys was carrying out the heinous crimes, not realizing that Rhys represents another aspect of his own, troubled psyche.
Joe ruins many lives in season 4, but one of his most haunting victims is Nadia. As a young college student with a talent for solving murder mysteries, Nadia didn’t mean to get dragged into any of Joe’s messes. And in the end, she pays a high price for getting too close to him.
How did Nadia discover Joe Goldberg’s identity?
Of all of the people in Jonathan Moore’s life, Nadia is probably the most dangerous—because she’s onto him. A once supportive professor-student relationship quickly changes when Nadia starts to suspect that there’s more to her teacher than meets the eye. With the help of her boyfriend Edward, Nadia begins to investigate Jonathan. While tracking his movements, she discovers a bomb shelter in an abandoned building on the same street as a takeout restaurant Jonathan frequents. Inside, she finds Marienne locked in a glass cage. Classic Joe Goldberg behavior.
Nadia desperately wants to help Marienne, who forbids her from calling the police. Marienne is only too aware of Joe’s dark side, and she believes he’ll evade the authorities and come after her again in the future. Showrunner Sera Gamble explains to ELLE.com, “She’s discouraging Nadia from doing anything but the safest version of helping her escape.” Together, they hatch a plan, and successfully get Marienne out of the cage and back to Paris with her daughter.
What did Joe do to Nadia and Edward?
After finding an article about the death of Joe’s first wife, Love, online, Nadia convinces Edward that Jonathan Moore is really Joe Goldberg. They decide to go to Joe’s apartment to look for evidence that he is the real Eat the Rich Killer, believing that he’s likely kept souvenirs of his victims. Inside, Nadia finds a box of Rhys Montrose’s belongings hidden on a bookshelf, linking Joe to the author’s murder. After photographing the evidence, she leaves to reconvene with Edward.
However, once outside, she bumps into Joe. To her horror, he has murdered Edward and made sure that Nadia is the number one suspect. Handing her the knife that he used to kill her boyfriend, Joe tells Nadia, “There’s going to be a box found in your bedroom by the police. Rhys Montrose’s things, anonymous tipster. You realized it was Eddie. That’s why you killed him.” In other words, he framed Edward for killing Rhys, and then framed Nadia for killing Edward.
Ominously, he tells her, “I’m looking forward to watching what you do next,” suggesting that he’s going to be checking up on her.
In the final scenes of season 4, Joe’s narration reveals that Nadia “still hasn’t spoken from prison.” Discussing the finality of Nadia’s story in season 4, Gamble tells ELLE.com, “Edward is dead. But Nadia’s also very, very, very imprisoned.”
Could Nadia come back in season 5?
Nadia might be locked up for a crime she didn’t commit, but that doesn’t mean she can’t make an appearance in future seasons of You. In fact, as one of the few people to have survived Joe Goldberg, Nadia has a certain amount of power, despite being behind bars.
Showrunner Gamble tells ELLE.com, “Most of the loose threads from the ends of various seasons are where [Joe has] let somebody slip away, in the case of Marienne, or he’s let them go, in the case of Ellie, or in a certain way in the case of Nadia. All of those people are potential threats.”
Nadia joins the ranks of women who are well aware of Joe Goldberg’s proclivities. While a murder conviction is pretty difficult to get out of, Nadia has a penchant for research. Not only did she discover the true identity of Jonathan Moore, but she even uncovered his murderous secrets. If she can get to the bottom of a mystery like Joe Goldberg, she’s certainly smart enough to manifest her own release from prison. Or so one would hope.
While it’s currently unclear if Nadia will be back for future seasons, there’s something comforting in knowing that, in the world of You, Joe Goldberg survivors exist.
Amy Mackelden is a freelance writer, editor, and disability activist. Her bylines include Harper’s BAZAAR, Nicki Swift, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, ELLE, The Independent, Bustle, Healthline, and HelloGiggles. She co-edited The Emma Press Anthology of Illness, and previously spent all of her money on Kylie Cosmetics.
