Hi everyone,
I have perhaps an unexpected guest for you today. Penn Badgley is an actor best known for his roles in Netflix’s You and the popular drama series Gossip Girl.
He is less known as a podcaster and member of the Baháʼí Faith, a religion which teaches that there is a historical unity between major world religions and their prophets, having itself developed out of a branch of Twelver Shia Islam in the 19th century.
In You, he plays a psychopathic stalker-murderer, a complex and ironic role which as an actor he must find a way to represent, drawing on the parts of himself that he can see in the character. As a Baháʼí, this raises some spiritual and moral questions, some of which we explore in this episode.
We also discuss the Baháʼí Faith, what attracted Penn to it (he is an adult convert), and how it influences his career.
As usual, paid Substack supporters have early, ad-free access to this episode. The rest of the world will get it in a few days.
Let me know what you think!
- Alex
