Griffin Matthews delivered a scene-stealing performance as Teddy Lockwood in You‘s final season — but his inspiration for the fan-favorite character came from an unexpected place.
“The first thing that I did when I got the job is I made a Pinterest board and it was all ASAP Rocky. I saw ASAP Rocky in a Gucci ad and I was like, ‘Here is what’s so interesting, this guy is Harlem on the top and Gucci on the bottom,'” Matthews, 42, recalled during an exclusive interview with Us Weekly. “I loved that image of this Black man in New York City who is part of this billionaire, white and half British family.”
Matthews was intrigued by the way Teddy offered “a different version of reality,” noting, “I wanted to try to play him not as a good guy. I talked so much with the showrunners about how I didn’t want Teddy to just be a good guy. I wanted him to be authentic and I wanted the audience to not know if he was a good guy.”
You, which originally debuted on Lifetime in 2018, introduced Penn Badgley as a serial killer whose obsession for a girl grew to terrifying heights. Based on books by Caroline Kepnes, the series found larger success after it moved to Netflix for its sophomore season. Since then, each season introduced a new love interest for Joe — and new characters — that didn’t always survive.
“I knew the show and I didn’t know if I was going to live or die when I signed on. I had no idea from episode to episode. I just said to the showrunners, ‘Please just don’t kill me first please.’ But I wanted to create a world in which there was a question around Teddy that we didn’t know what his motives were and we didn’t know where he would land,” Matthews told Us. “Since we never knew from week to week who was going to live and who was going to die, you are doing your best work to try to create a world in which not only do you not know but the audience does not know. That’s the best part of shooting a show like this.”
Another great part of joining You? The fact that Matthews was already a big fan of the show before auditioning for the role of Joe’s (Badgley) snarky yet loyal brother-in-law.
“This is the first show I’ve ever done where I was a massive fan. I had seen every single episode of every single season before I auditioned and when I did my screen test with Charlotte [Ritchie], who played my sister. We were on a Zoom and I was so afraid of her,” the actor quipped. “Because of who she is on the show, I didn’t know if she was going to be cold to me. Of course, Charlotte ended up being so lovely and we chatted and had a great audition.”
Matthews admitted it was “so weird” to be on set after watching the show. “It was a very surreal experience to join,” he added. “It was maybe one of my greatest career accomplishments for sure.”
As a viewer first, Matthews understood the importance of certain parts of the show — including Joe’s infamous cage.
“I didn’t want to go in the cage because I knew that if I went in the cage I was not coming out. But there was a day that we went and shot the promo and we had to all get in the cage and it was fantastic. It is actually scary to go inside the cage,” Matthews revealed to Us. “The best way to — as an actor — to be scared is to actually be scared. When I shot the scene where Joe was trying to kill me, I was actually afraid I didn’t have to pretend like I was terrified. So getting into the cage and getting into a scuffle with Joe a.k.a Pen was thrilling. I want to do it again.”
Badgley’s performance as Joe might have been spooky, but Matthews couldn’t be more grateful for the bond he formed with his costar. “Turns out Penn is completely different. Funny enough, Penn is a dad [with wife Domino Kirke]. I’m a dad [with husband Matt Gould],” he explained. “So in our downtime, we spent a lot of time talking about our kids and showing pictures. I went to Penn’s house for lunch and met his kids and his family. Also Penn in between takes was meditating in his trailer. So I was like, ‘Who is this guy?'”
Matthews continued: “What is amazing about his performance is Penn is bringing a very particular humanity to Joe Goldberg. That is also why that character is so successful because Penn himself is focused on humanity. He was able to really bring Joe to life because he found a way to make us fall in love with Joe and hate Joe simultaneously. That is so hard as an actor but he never judged the character. He was always just trying to find the truth. It was exciting to watch on set — but even more exciting to see it on screen.”
While speaking to Us, it was clear that Matthews put just as much work into bringing Teddy to life.
“We had many, many calls with our showrunners. Charlotte and I spent a lot of time off screen together. The showrunners gave me a lot of freedom to make sure that Teddy felt authentic. I had the space to say, ‘I think in this particular scenario, a Black person in 2024 is going to say it like this,'” he recalled. “We had to tackle race and culture and privilege. I wanted people who looked like me to see the show and recognize themselves on screen. So I was so lucky that our showrunners were so open to conversations.”
Matthews pointed to Teddy’s appearance as a good example, adding, “We did an entire conversation about hair. I spent more time in the hair chair than any of the women on our show: four hours. We were just going hours and hours a day trying to craft a look because Teddy starts with an afro and then as the season progresses, he finally makes it to the end. I wanted him to look the way that he would look in Harlem — but now he’s the CEO.”
There were also conversations about Teddy’s personal life.
“I’ve played many gay men on television and I’ve never had a Black boyfriend or husband. So when I found out that Teddy had a husband and a son, I said ‘It might be interesting if we cast another Black actor and maybe a Black child. Because it will say something about who Teddy is when he’s not inside of this particular world. It will tell the viewer that Teddy is completely outside of this culture, that he’s a fish out of water when he’s in that office,'” he explained. “I give the showrunners a lot of credit because they really heard some of the ideas that I had and implemented them in really, really special and beautiful ways.”
You is currently streaming on Netflix.
