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.
What were some of the references you had for finding this character?
A big part of the storyline is the fiction fantasy-romance genre. This is really a perfect character for me because she's a bookworm, and so am I, although we have very different tastes. I'm not so much a fiction, fantasy, sexy kind of girl. But I picked up that very big series and dove right into it because that's such a big part of her life. I think it's a really important part of her escapism, so that was an entry point for me—reading some sexy fairy smut, as she called it.
Do you have a personal favorite author or book in that genre?
In the genre, generally, I love Anaïs Nin, who Bronte is very familiar with. I don't know. The thing about this genre is the edging. Anaïs gets in there, and she's like, “He grabbed my wet sex,” and I'm like, “Okay girl, go for it.” But in the fiction, fantasy stuff, the fairy smut, they just edge you for like 200 pages, and I just can't. I don't have time. Get to it. I can't stand it.
Season five brings the show back to where it all began—to New York City and to Mooney's, Joe's bookstore. How was it for you to step into that world having been such a fan all of these years?
It was perfect. I'm so grateful that, of all seasons, this was the season because it was a homecoming to New York. … I hold up [season one] as one of my favorite seasons of television, so going back to Mooney's, getting to walk around in those sets, getting to see inside the bookstore and outside of Mooney's, to shoot the exterior stuff and just to see things that I've seen on TV, I love that. I'm a fan. I hate to sound so normal about it, but it was freaking neat. And obviously shooting in New York. I've just moved back to New York in the last year, and this is the first time probably in years where I was able to go to work and then come home and sleep in my own bed, which is insane. We had such a great time. It was summer in New York. The cast really became pretty tight. Penn would never come out with us because he's an old man, and he will tell you that himself, but we just had a great time. It was like camp.
Let's talk about Badgley. There's a lot of sexual tension brewing between Joe and Bronte. How was it developing that with him? Did you know each other before this?
I hadn't met Penn before. I did two chemistry reads with him before I got the job. What I had known about him was really just through my agent and through other people I've met who have said, “Oh yeah, he's fun. He's a great guy.” He's been doing this show for five seasons now. I've also done quite a bit of nudity or simulated sex scenes, all of that, and Penn and I, which was perfect, are both very comfortable saying what we think and how we feel in those moments. Especially as the lead of the show for this long and being number one on the call sheet, he was really generous with his time and made me feel very comfortable and safe. Penn is an instantly likable, easy-to-get-along-with person, so that really helps. I like to think I am too. We also had conversations facilitated by our intimacy coordinator, who was wonderful, but also, Penn and I both have been in these kinds of spaces for a very long time and are able to advocate for ourselves and make sure what we're getting is the best scene possible.
You have been committed to this show for five seasons now. Are you satisfied with how the show wraps up?
I think they do it really, really beautifully. Michael and Justin just really knocked it out of the park, because the ending of this series is either he's dead or he's in prison. There's not really any other way. If he runs to another city, that's another season. So there was one of two options. I'm really proud of Bronte's participation in the way the season and the series comes to an end. I also think that the finale episode is one of the best things I've ever been a part of. I'm so proud of it. Our director, Lee [Toland Krieger], just knocked it out of the park, truly. I keep using “knocked it out of the park.” Please, pick something else. Lee shot the pilot, which, to me, was so important because I love that first season. [We're] just really bringing it home to what the show is all about, and it's about bringing justice to these women who are victims of interpartner violence. It is so common, and it's so scary, and I like to think that the show does a really beautiful job honoring [them]. Especially coming back to the storyline with Beck in season five, I think it really honors where we've been.
In addition to You, you have the final season of The Handmaid's Tale, which has been a big part of your life.
This June will be nine years since I auditioned. Is that nuts?
Wow, that's a big portion of someone's life and career. How does it feel to be closing such a big chapter and saying goodbye to Janine?
Honestly, it's great. I'm so proud of Janine. I'm proud of the story. I'm proud of what we've given each other over the course of six seasons. Everything's got to end, right? I don't think another season would have really done her justice. I was ready to say goodbye to Gilead, for sure, and I think that this final season is so inspiring. It's so much more inspiring, really, than other seasons have been because we had to give the girls time to break out. We had to give these women time to uproot themselves from the oppression that they've been living under. I'm really proud of the way we end it.
What impact has Janine had on you personally?
I started the show when I was 24. I grew up with Janine. She's a part of who I am now in such a way. In a lot of ways, because of her, I'm a better friend, and I'm a better daughter, and I'm a better person. Just for example, I tend to catastrophize all of the bad things that could possibly happen, and Janine has given me the ability to hold on to the silver lining of things and to be a bit more optimistic. It's hard to be someone in 2025 who exists on the internet and sees the horrors occurring daily in the world and to still try and believe in the innate goodness of people, and Janine has taught me how to keep looking for that.
Did you get to keep your red dress?
Oh, I sure did. I didn't even put it back on the hanger when I shot my last night. It just went straight into my backpack. I didn't exactly ask. I probably should have asked. They didn't ask for it back yet, so like, what are you gonna do with it? I have my caplet, my eye patch, and my dress. It's a piece of history, you know.
You've checked off a bucket-list career item by starring in You, and now that Handmaid's is done, what are you looking to next?
That's such a tough question because I want to do it all. I moved back to New York so I could do theater more often. I love theater. It's what I went to school for, and it's where I really like to be, and I know a lot of actors are the same. I do want to try my hand at directing, especially watching Lizzie [Moss] really blossom into such a talented, passionate director. She's just such a pro now. It's so cool. I want to do something similar to that. I also really have my eyes on playing a real-life person. So much of creating a character is inventing a lot of things, and I love that process, but I'm ready for a very different challenge. I'm ready to take on a role that is more of an uncovering rather than a creating.
Photographer: James Bee
Stylist: Sachiko Clyde
Hairstylist: Yuhi Kim
Makeup Artist: Sasha Borax
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