Elizabeth Lail on the death of Beck's

Elizabeth Lail
Photo: Getty Images

Spoilers to come for the Lifetime season finale You.

Elizabeth Lail had her first big break playing frozen Anna on ABC Once upon a time, but his second major role on You is far from fantasy. Beck, the young writer she interprets, is a woman in her twenties who navigates her career, her friendships and her romantic life in New York when she meets a charmer named Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley), who turns out to be a murderer psychopath and tracker.

As viewers attended the finale of Sunday night's season, Beck almost manages to get Joe's claws alive. But in the end, the man who killed Beck's boyfriend, his best friend, and the violent boyfriend of his own neighbor, also end up murdering poor Beck. Lifetime has already picked up You for a second season and Badgley will resume his role, but none of the other leaders of the first season can reach Joe in his next psycho adventure. Before the finale, Lail spoke to Vulture about her work with Badgley, what the series had reinforced in her mind about dating and social media, and why she was upset about not doing part of the second season.

What attracted you to playing Beck?
I really connected Beck to his fight. His human struggle – not necessarily his stalker problem.[[[[Laughs.]And luckily for me as an actor, I normally play his daily struggle with relationships, friendships and survival in New York. I really enjoy playing wrestling, and then that magnifies in the end with her boyfriend in a cage.

In one of the last episodes, Beck says that his life is messy, but that nobody needs someone to fix it. But I feel that his life has been life for twenty years, something normal, which only finds out how it is located in the world. She did not seem to be in disorder. Do you agree?
Yes! Everyone was so hard on her. I think at this age – or I should say, at my age – it's all harder because you know how to live on your own, or have a steady job, and whatever your everyday luggage. Life obviously influenced the weight of your struggle. Beck unfortunately has a particularly important ego and low self-esteem.

The show makes us think about why we are willing to forgive horrible men and why it is so easy to blame women. Beck is criticized for missing warning signs, for example.
People are really hard on it, but I think you would not necessarily think in the worst case. Beck has a real connection with Joe. It's not just what he handled. There is something between them that is real and that unfortunately blinds you to all the red flags.

We have the advantage of knowing everything, but for her, he is a cute and attentive guy.
Right. In addition, he is not his wife. She cheated on him. The guilt of this cheater comes into play and perhaps explains why she wants to be with him, even after that.

Since you are about the same age as Beck and you live in New York, did working on this show lead you to think differently about how to approach new relationships? Or how to use social media differently?
It reminded me that there was a lot of judgment to make before even meeting anyone. When Joe and Beck meet, he makes all those assumptions about him just from the Internet. If anything, it made me think, This is not the way to go. You should try to meet people, have your own experience and judge them without being confused by their Instagram character. So it did not make me nervous or frightened, it reminded me that I wanted to meet honest people, real and face to face.

He attributes many motivations based on his publications, his clothes and all kinds of superficial things.
She could have avoided a lot of grief when he had not made all these assumptions.

Do you think this is a love story of some kind?
I am one of those who hate cutting to the love of anyone. I like to say that all that love was for you at that time, then you had it. Hope this grows up and you can look back and be like, Oh, it was mainly desire or attachmentwhich is obviously the case with Beck and Joe. It's certainly not a love to aspire to, but I think for them they did what they were capable of at the time. It's a love story, but it's the most twisted kind. It is not love in its purest form, where a man saves a woman, but rather has just locked her in a cage. It's not love. There is a part of me that says, This is obviously not the love. But it's for them at one point in their relationship, and in the end, it becomes very clear to Beck that there is no real love from Joe. He is psychotic.

What surprised you while you played the role?
When we repeat a scene, we do not always play it fully – it depends on what the director wants or what the scene requires more – and it has happened to me repeatedly to say his lines and to cry. It would come from nowhere. She would say, for example, "I'm not good enough for you," something really upsetting and sad and reveals her level of self-esteem. At least twice, I was just saying those words, and all of a sudden I was crying because I wanted to. My heart is going towards her.

When did you learn that he would kill Beck?
I learned it before taking the job. When I auditioned for the first time, I did not know why I was auditioning. At the first audition, I was just in a bar drinking with friends, reading poetry. It was one of my scenes. And then flirt with a guy in a taxi. I did not really know what I was writing for, then I started reading the book and I really I did not think she was going to die. I thought it would be heroic justice in the end, but it's more true that, unfortunately, she dies. It is more likely that someone will die in this situation.

She has almost escaped!
I know! She was so close. Paco, open the door! It's so sad. The fact that Joe manipulated Paco, that he had the confidence of Paco so much that he would not even open the door at that time, it's scary.

It's a bit scary how good Penn Badgley is in this scary role.
How did you find working with him?
It's so funny. It's not at all scary in real life. It simply comes from kindness. It's funny because we would work with him on something and everyone would say "Penn, it was great." Beck And I asked him, "What were you doing so amazing?" And he says, "Honestly, I have no idea. Apparently, I'm just naturally scary. "

Was this the case when you are in scenes with him? Did you have the impression that he was different? Did he piss you off?
Not really. In the end, Beck is in combat mode or in flight. The cage gives him a little freedom. She is so angry at the end. His rage is coming out. She's not just playing the victim, she's really fighting for her life. She cradles him too and gives it to him, which I like very much. It was not annoying because I know Penn so well, and most of the time, Joe was very charming to my character. It was right there at the end.

How long did you shoot in the cage?
It was like a week. I was in the cage for most of the final episode. I have lived in this thing. It sounds strange, but it was like my own private room. I could just go and calm my mind, and tap into the situation because the doors were closed. All crew members were in the dark in the shadow around me. I did not really see anyone. I was afraid of losing my voice. I've really tried to protect my voice and my emotional stamina. I really had to warm up and warm up. I just had to tell my body that it was not real and that everything was fine despite the trauma we suffered.

What did you do afterwards to extract it from your system?
One thing that helped me was that I was talking to Penn and we were spending the day together. And then a lot of things warmed my voice. It's a lot of purring, lots of tea and honey, soothing practices and a simple shower at the end of the night. I have survived!

I was disappointed. Peach had left the show so early. What did you think about her character and how did you work with Shay Mitchell?
What a beautiful character. Peach had a lot of problems that she had unfortunately discussed with Beck. I do not know what it is like at Beck, but everyone is obsessed with it. They think they can fix it, help it, control it. That's also why I love it in the end when she says, "I lived my life as if I could take care of it." She is doing it. She almost lived.

Everyone reacts like a damsel in distress, but the viewer sees it differently.
We catch her at a time when she begins to speak for herself, but as in her relationship with Peach, this is the first time she really defends her. Where she says, "Are you obsessed with me? If that's your case, it's okay, if it's your sexual preference, it's good. That's what I understand, but she finds her voice throughout the season. That's another reason why it's so heartbreaking that she dies – in the end, she grows up so much, even as an artist. Poor Beck.

What do you think of the turn that Joe's old Joe is alive?
Part of me is like Why does she have the chance to live?

Exactly!
I could have gone to Italy.[[[[Laughs.]But it's a good television for you. This adds a surprise, especially after Beck's murder.

Are you disappointed not to be back for the second season?
I am because I loved working with Penn. Poor Penn. It's just him and no one else. He's like a one-man show.