You season 3 has already been released on Netflix, with its first episode dedicated to Mark Blum, who played Mr. Mooney. Based on Caroline Kepnes’ You series, the psychological thriller You focuses on Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley) as he navigates dating and relationships in modern-day New York and Los Angeles, while harboring secrets of his own, especially his obsessive and violent tendencies. Throughout the show, viewers have been given more insight into Joe’s childhood, seeking to explain his obsessive and violent tendencies. After he kills his mother Sandy’s (Magda Apanowicz, The Magicians) abusive boyfriend, Joe is sent to a foster home, where he is adopted a few years later by Mr. Mooney, a former prison guard who owns a bookstore.
In the earlier episodes, Joe frequently mentions Mr. Mooney, implying that he has been a positive influence on his life: a mentor who taught him how to repair books and run his bookstore Mooney’s. On the contrary, it is shown, through another set of flashbacks, that Mooney has abused Joe as a teenager by locking him in the glass vault in the bookstore’s basement and leaving him there for days on end. Years later, when Joe commits murder, Mooney consoles him by pointing out how some people deserve to die — an idea that has been imprinted on Joe as he justifies killing the other You characters. In the present day, Mr. Mooney has been revealed to be in a vegetative state following a stroke and Joe not finding him in time.
In the first episode of You season 3, a dedication flashcard — which reads “In loving memory Mark Blum” — is displayed before the credits roll. The dedication is a tribute to Mark Blum, who portrayed Ivan Mooney. The actor passed away on March 25, 2020, at the New York-Presbyterian Hospital from complications due to COVID-19.
Born in 1950, Blum started performing on stage in the '70s, but he became famous for his roles as Gary Glass in the comedy-drama Desperately Seeking Susan and Richard Mason in the action-comedy Crocodile Dundee. From there, his acting credits expanded, landing parts in films like Blind Date, You Can Thank Me Later, Step Up 3D, and I Don't Know How She Does It. He also appeared in television shows including Frasier, Law & Order, The Sopranos, Mozart in the Jungle, and Succession. Aside from film and television credits, Blum continued to appear on stage, even winning an Obie Award for his performance in the 1988–89 season of Albert Innaurato's Gus and Al.
Mark Blum was last seen as a guest star in the shows Almost Family, Billions, and Tommy. Also, his last movie performance was in the posthumously released film Sister of the Groom. Just before the premiere of You season 3, the show’s writer Sara Gamble revealed on Twitter that they were supposed to flesh out Mr. Mooney’s story in the latest installment. After all, there are still speculations on what really happened to his character, and whether Joe intentionally has something to do with it. Sadly, that idea had to be scrapped from Netflix's You season 3.