Rhys Montrose (2024)

Rhys Montrose is a main character and an antagonist in the fourth season of Netflix's You, serving as the main antagonist. He is portrayed by Ed Speleers. Although only in fourth season did Rhys appear as Joe's dual personality, taking the physical form of Rhys Montrose, he was always present as the personification of Joe's dark side throughout the other seasons.

Biography[]

Rhys is a British author and London Mayoral candidate who grew up in poverty with his unstable single mother before later discovering he was the son of a duke, attending Oxford University and rising to success with his well-received autobiography. He initially bonds with Joe because they both have difficult childhoods, and they seem to find common ground within the elite social circle where they both feel out of place. (The underlined text is all in Joe's Imagination)

Backstory[]

Rhys Montrose born in London, United Kingdom, son of a powerful duke and an unnamed mother, Rhys was born on August 4th, 1988 and discovered his paternity years after his birth.

Season 1[]

During his consultation with Dr. Nicky, Joe, as Paul Brown, asks how his diagnosis turned out, Dr. Nicky responds that inside Joe there would be two people (Joe and Rhys).

Season 3[]

Rhys appears exactly as he would appear in season four, but in Joe's physical form. Rhys embodies Joe's dark side, as shown when he encourages Joe to frame Matthew for Natalie's murder. In the end, Joe denies what Rhys says and tries to advise Matthew to talk to the press so that everyone doesn't suspect that Matthew murdered Natalie, and thus be able to protect Theo, which Matthew tries to do. Rhys has never been seen again since then, as Joe was possibly in deep denial of his dark side, i.e. Rhys.

Season 4[]

Joe first "meets" Rhys when Malcolm insists he attends a London hotspot for the elite and introduces him to their inner circle. They briefly discuss his book and relate to the shared experience of a poor childhood and poverty. Rhys excuses himself, stating he has a television appearance in Berlin the following morning. This entire interaction however was completely in Joe's head meaning it never actually happened.

That night he murdered Malcolm and intended to frame Joe, who was too intoxicated to remember what had happened. He expected that when Joe found Malcolm's body on his kitchen table, he would easily go down for the crime. Instead, he is intrigued when Joe covers it up and disposes of the body. He begins texting Joe anonymously, taunting him and questioning his true identity, while also interacting with him in person at events of the inner circle. Typically, they have conversations in which they seem to carry on their initial bond and Joe lets his guard down with him repeatedly. He digs into Joe's past and discovers who he is, which only intrigues him further and gives him more to taunt Joe with through the text message app. He threatens to implicate Joe in the murders further if he doesn't play along and be honest about himself. By the end of part 1, Rhys has secretly followed the group to Phoebe's remote county estate where they have retreated. After killing Gemma and observing as Joe and Kate frantically try to hide the body and avoid suspicion, he finally intervenes once Roald has implicated Joe as the murderer to others in the group and begun to enthusiastically hunt him through the forest. Rhys captures both Joe and Roald, and Joe wakes up chained up in the secret basem*nt of the estate. He tells Joe that he decided they should dispose of Roald, and following Joe’s previous successful strategy, pin the other murders on him. He tells Joe to kill Roald before he returns but refuses to unchain him. When he comes back to find Joe hadn't killed him and was trying to escape, he was disappointed and set fire to the basem*nt, leaving the two men chained to the wall.

"If you're clever enough to get yourself free, I’ll see you in London." He tells him, before disappearing.

Joe kidnaps, tortures, and murders the real Rhys in a vain attempt to find Marienne's location, prompting the fake Rhys to reveal himself and warn Joe that he had not fed Marienne in days. Joe manages to find Marienne in time, and despite Rhys demanding that he kill her, he plans to free her as soon as he finds a way to escape London before the police can arrest him. Joe texts Marienne's friend Beatrice and learns that Marienne lost custody of her daughter Juliette, which seemingly drives Marienne to commit suicide by overdosing on oxycodone pills. At her written request, Joe leaves Marienne's body on a bench. To "protect" Kate from her father's manipulations, Joe and Rhys murder Lockwood and frame it on his bodyguard.

Guilt-ridden by his murders and Marienne's suicide, Joe heads to a bridge to commit suicide. Rhys begs him to back down, but Joe "throws" him off the bridge before jumping off himself. Unfortunately for everyone, Joe survives his suicide attempt. He tells Kate about the murders of Love and Marienne's ex-boyfriend Ryan Goodwin, and Kate uses his connections to help cover up the murders, allowing Joe to return to New York and live by his true identity. Meanwhile, he discovers that a girl named Nadia has been investigating him, and he frames her for the real Rhys Montrose's murder. While Rhys never speaks to Joe after the bridge scene, Joe imagines his reflection in the window and becomes significantly more ruthless and cruel, so whether the Rhys personality has ceased to exist or merged with Joe's is unclear.

Murders Committed[]

	Malcolm Harding	Stabbed in the chest.	YOU
	Simon Soo	Stabbed in the chest.	YOU
	Gemma Graham-Greene	Throat slashed.	YOU

Quotes[]

Joe's mind[]

• "I'm not Joe."
• "Pleasure to meet you, brother in arms."
• "They're dancing while the world burns and barely notice its even burning. Why would they? Their weathers just right."
• "I get a sense about you, all jokes aside, my guess is that you've had a truly hellish life. The kind not everyone survives. Am I close? So you're fairly deeply damaged, therefore you're capable of doing real damage."
• "I think yes. As long as they can face themselves completely. To never run from themselves. Face it all no matter what. Easy, right?"
• "I think it would be hypocritical of me to disavow old friends simply for being who they are. But really, I think the longer that you know somebody, the more cursed you are to see them as human."
• "We all wear different masks, depending. And of course, parts of us we can't bear to show anyone."
• "I don't mind getting into all that. I'd have questions too. It's just, I honestly wasn’t prepared for this type of face to face yet. But then you got yourself into a bind and it became very clear that if I didn't intervene, you were gonna get yourself killed."
• "You're welcome. My pleasure."
• "Don't be coy. I've studied you, Joe. The way you’ve been able to escape scrutiny… truly you've been inspiring me so much along the way in my little project. And in light of what's worked so well for you in times past, it seems my best option that doesn't rely on luck, involves framing a dead person so they can't protest their innocence."
• "You kill him, and I’ll take care of the other touches that will make the story sing. I’ve got the note written."
• "No one will be surprised Roald is a killer. He’s a neo fascist with a knife collection."
• "You lied. To me. You're in denial about yourself. It's a shame. You're not the man I hoped you were. I did have a plan A. To frame you for Malcolm's murder. I could go back to that. I don’t want to, but sometimes things don't work out with the person the way you dream."
• "If you're clever enough to get yourself free, I’ll see you in London and we can revisit this."

Real Rhys[]

• "Sorry do I know you?"
• "I don't know what the f*ck you're talking about."

Relationships[]

Romances[]

• Emma - Ex-Wife
• Gemma Graham-Greene † - Affair

Allies[]

• Joe Goldberg - Split personality

Enemies[]

• Malcolm Harding - Victim
• Simon Soo - Victim
• Gemma Graham-Green - Victim
• Tom Lockwood - Rival

Appearances[]

Season 4[]

• "Joe Takes a Holiday"
• "Portrait of the Artist"
• "Eat the Rich"
• "Hampsie"
• "The Fox and the Hound"
• "Best of Friends"
• "Good Man, Cruel World"
• "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?"
• "She's Not There"
• "The Death of Jonathan Moore"

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

• Due to season 4 being an original creation from Netflix, Rhys is an original character created for the show, since he makes no appearances in the books. Although since the evil version of Rhys was just a split personality of Joe Goldberg, he could have exist, if his killings were involved violently in the books.
• Giving the ending of season 4, showed Joe’s reflection of Rhys, but it’s unknown if he is still alive, while the fifth and final season is coming, whether Rhys would appear remains unknown.
• Although only in fourth season did Rhys appear as Joe's dual personality, he was always present as the personification of Joe's dark side throughout the other seasons.
• The Rhys personality is more openly perverted than Joe usually is. When Kate is visibly drunk at and after Phoebe's party, Rhys repeatedly encourages Joe to have sex with her, to which he declines.
• The Rhys personality may have appeared in the third season, around episode 3, although it was a double of Joe.
• Rhys is ironically similar to Tyler Durden, from Fight Club, as he is the spilt personality of the protagonist, The Narrator, as an evil personality, like Rhys.
  • Although Rhys was a real person, his split personality took over in the form of Joe. For Fight Club, Tyler doesn’t exist, with no person.

Characters

Main Characters Joe Goldberg |Love Quinn |Rhys Montrose Season 1 Characters Allison Mott |Annika Attwater |Anya Beck |Barry Salinger |Benji Ashby |Blythe |Candace Stone |Claudia Cohen |Clyde Beck |Edward Beck |Elijah Thornton |Ethan Russell |Guinevere Beck |Ivan Mooney |Jimmy Stone |Karen Minty |Lynn Lieser |Maddie Johnson |Nancy Whitesell |Nicky Reynolds |Nico |Paco |Paul Leahy |Peach Salinger |Raj |Roger Stevens |Ron Williams |Ross Jones |Whitesell Siblings Season 2 Characters Calvin |Candace Stone |David Fincher |Delilah Alves |Dottie Quinn |Ellie Alves |Forty Quinn |Gabe Miranda |Gigi |Henderson |James Kennedy |Jasper Krenn |Lucy Sprecher |Milo Warrington |Natalie Engler |Nicky Reynolds |Raphael Goldberg |Ray Quinn |Sandy Librelato |Sofia |Sunrise Cummings |Will Bettelheim Season 3 Characters Andrew |Brandon |Cary Conrad |Chandra |Dante Ferguson |Dottie Quinn |Fiona |Gil Brigham |Harriet Goodwin |Henry Goldberg |Jackson |Jakey Librelato |Juliette Goodwin |Kiki |Lansing |Marienne Bellamy |Matthew Engler |Natalie Engler |Ryan Goodwin |Sandy Librelato |Sherry Conrad |Theo Engler |Travis |Wes Season 4 Characters Adam Pratt |Beatrice |Blessing Bosede |Blue |Connie |Dawn Brown |Duke of Kingston-upon-Hull |Edward Owen |Elliot Tannenberg |Emma |Gemma Graham-Greene |Greta Galvin |Hugo McNamara |Jace Pratt |Juliette Goodwin |Kate Galvin |Malcolm Harding |Marienne Bellamy |Nadia Farran |Niko Leandros |Phoebe Borehall-Blaxworth |Roald Walker-Burton |Simon Soo |Sophie Soo |Tom Lockwood |Vic Bailey Season 5 Characters Bronte |Henry Goldberg |Kate Galvin |Maddie Lockwood |Marienne Bellamy |Raegan Lockwood |Teddy Lockwood