Remember when Jenna Ortega was in You? It took us a minute to remember as well.
Before she absolutely exploded onto our screens in Netflix's Addams Family-inspired smash Wednesday, and of course her popular turn in Scream's iconic horror sequel, Jenna came up against Joe Goldberg.
She played the role of Ellie, who showed up in season two after You took Netflix by storm when its debut made the move from Lifetime to the streaming giant.
Ellie was the younger sister to gossip girl (not to be confused with Penn Badgley's former role, of course) Delilah, who had befriended an LA newcomer called "Will". This was one of Joe's rebrands, when he needed to leave his old identity behind thanks to his habit of killing his love interests.
A sibling dynamic soon started to form between Joe and Ellie, and it was through this protective relationship that the problematic Netflix series made one of its many attempts to redeem its central stalker.
Douchebag director Henderson (who'd previously assaulted Delilah) tried to use his position of power over aspiring filmmaker Ellie, ultimately seeing him drug her and try to take advantage.
Joe just so happened to be skulking in the shadows at his house – because of course he was – and he foiled his plan, protecting Ellie from harm but ultimately adding Henderson to his growing dead body count in the process.
Ellie's sister Delilah also didn't make it out of the second season alive, but she was killed at the hands of Love Quinn who was desperately clinging onto her 'romance' with Joe.
But Ellie is that rare person who has so far avoided Joe's tendency for murder. By the end of season two, Ellie is waved off and told to run away from everything that's happened, and Joe is taken to the suburbs with his newly pregnant and equally obsessive girlfriend.
And with that, we've not heard from Ellie again.
Many might have been assuming that her story was done. But we've been theorising that Jenna Ortega's character could be about to play an important part in You's upcoming fourth season.
The first full-length trailer was released by Netflix on January 9, and it's not looking good for Joe. We know he's fled to London, and assumed another new identity – well, he didn't have a choice considering he's thought to have died in a house fire.
He's now a university professor, and has a bunch of rich and privileged friends. It's fairly funny listening to Joe's inner monologue look down on them for that, considering he's spent his whole life getting away with literal murder just for being a charming white man, but we digress.
One thing is different though, and could be the key to his undoing. The tables have turned, and someone is stalking Joe.
"I ran away from all this. But one of you is watching me. One of you is hiding in plain sight. So who are you?" Joe says in the trailer.
We think it could be Ellie. The insinuation is that it's someone from his past – they know his real name, as shown in the texts that flash up, and they seem to know what he's done. Everything that he's done.
In one scene, we're shown a wall filled with newspaper clippings. The headlines read as a timeline of his crimes, spanning all the way back to the very beginning. In fact, look closely enough and there's a front page dedicated to Ellie and her sister Delilah, as well as a news story about Henderson.
Whoever is stalking Joe must go pretty far back in his life, which makes it less likely to be Marienne. Her fate is currently unknown, but we do know that she fled to Paris with her daughter to hide from Joe.
Love warned Marienne of his murderous past in the season three finale, so she knows enough, but unless she's gained some serious detective skills to uncover more, Marienne has no direct connection to his days in LA.
Could Ellie have been keeping track of Joe's movements for all this time, collecting evidence and waiting for her moment? Did she see the news reports of the house fire and his apparent murder/suicide with Love, and recognise his hallmarks?
Ellie was pretty angry with Joe when she last saw him, knowing he'd killed Henderson and blaming him for her sister's death. In fact, at the end of season two, she told him that he had ruined her life and her parting words to him were, and we quote, "burn in hell".
Joe had told her to go far away to start a new life, and what's further from California than London?
Sure, we could be reaching. But Jenna Ortega herself has always left the door open when it comes to a return to You.
Speaking to Teen Vogue in 2019, she said she would want Ellie to be "an even bigger badass" if she were to appear again.
"I don't want her to come back and be extremely vulnerable and sad," she said, before later adding, "It would be amazing to see Ellie come back and take control of her life. She has so much potential and so much talent that she shouldn't waste because of him."
In a more recent interview, in 2022, for Vulture, Jenna described herself as still being a fan of the show. She also said that she would "love" to return as Ellie, and admitted that she "almost did a bit more with the third season" but that there'd been scheduling issues.
This certainly makes it sound like conversations about her future on the show are somewhat ongoing, and she's obviously got that continued relationship with Netflix thanks to her involvement in Wednesday.
Before we get too carried away, when asked what she thought Ellie was doing now, she also told Vulture, "Unfortunately, I feel like she's still in Florida", which could extinguish any rumours of her joining Joe in London.
But this interview was published in March 2022, and filming for You season four didn't wrap until August that year, so there could have been time to work her into it. It's also not impossible that her comeback would be super top secret – can you think of a better mic drop moment than Ellie rocking up to finally give Joe the comeuppance he deserves?
We might be dreamcasting here, but we're not giving up on the hope that it might be a possibility – even if we have to wait until season five to see it happen.
You seasons 1-3 are streaming on Netflix. Season 4 part 1 will premiere on February 9 and season 4 part 2 on March 9.
