Warning: This article contains spoilers for YOU season 3.

YOU star Penn Badgley reveals his pick for the craziest fan theory about the show. Based on the books by Caroline Kepnes, the romantic thriller initially examined the deeply troubled mind of Joe Goldberg (Badgley) as he searches for his one true love.  YOU season 1 saw Joe develop an obsession with Guinevere Beck (Elizabeth Lail) but their relationship ends in tragedy. For its second outing, the show introduced Love Quinn (Victoria Pedretti) and, by the end of the season, Joe and Love move to the suburbs of Northern California and attempt to raise their infant son.

The finale of YOU's sophomore installment hinted that Joe was falling into old habits of finding new strangers to fixate on. In particular, the character seems intrigued by his new neighbor. From a glimpse, seen through Joe’s eyes, she appears as an older woman that shares Joe’s enjoyment of reading novels. Many fans speculated, in the long delay before YOU season 3, that the mystery woman might just be Joe’s absentee mother. It was even suggested that Joe chose this particular suburb in order to track down his mother. But, for his part, Badgley says he was never quite convinced.

Related: You Season 3: Unanswered Questions, Plot Holes & Head-Scratchers

As part of a feature for Esquire in which the actor answered questions about his life and his most famous characters, Badgley was asked about the craziest YOU theory he’s ever heard. Even though Badgley would have many to choose from, including the fact that Joe Goldberg is actually Dan Humphrey from Gossip Girl, he went with the common theory that the neighbor was actually Joe’s mom. Badgley explains why in the quote, which is included below.

"I mean, it’s the one that everybody’s heard…that, like, the woman at the end was Joe’s mom. That would be crazy. Did you see how young her arm was? That was not an old woman’s arm. There’s no way."

Penn Badgley and Victoria Pedretti in YOU Season 3

YOU season 3 takes an axe, literally, to the importance of the neighbor. In the season’s premiere episode, it’s shown that the neighbor is Natalie (Michaela McManus). Stuck in an unhappy marriage, Natalie flirts quite heavily with Joe. And, by the end of that first episode, she’s murdered by an angry and jealous Love. The development was pretty far from what a lot of fans expected when the mystery character was teased in the closing moments of season 2.

Still, the thriller does regularly feature Joe’s mother, Sandy (Magda Apanowicz), in flashbacks to Joe’s childhood. She’s clearly a vital part of the narrative that the series is unfolding. And, perhaps, as YOU heads into season 4, which has already been renewed by Netflix, we’ll see more of Sandy in the present. There’s an argument to be made that Joe’s saga wouldn’t be complete without reuniting with his mother. She just might not be the next-door neighbor, though.

More: You: Why Love Is So Different In Season 3 (& Why It's Perfect)

Source: Esquire