What Really Happens Behind the Scenes of “Outer Banks”? 12 Secrets About the Teen Drama, Straight from the Cast and Crew

Unexpected weather and last-minute auditions changed the entire trajectory of ‘Outer Banks’

Outer Banks has been giving fans emotional whiplash since it premiered in 2020.

The action-packed Netflix drama follows a group of treasure-hunting Pogues — John B (Chase Stokes), Sarah (Madelyn Cline), Kiara (Madison Bailey), Pope (Jonathan Daviss), JJ (Rudy Pankow) and Cleo (Carlacia Grant) — who track down some of history’s most elusive artifacts against all odds (many of those odds being the richer, more power-hungry Kooks).

The show has run for four seasons so far, however, days before the final episodes of season 4 hit the streamer on Nov. 7, show creators Shannon Burke, Jonas Pate and Josh Pate announced on Instagram that season 5 will be the last.

"We hope to bring our beloved Pogues home in the way we imagined and planned years ago," they wrote in a letter to fans. "We hope you'll join us for one more paddle out to the surf break."

Related: The Pogues Aren't the Only Ones in Love! Meet the Outer Banks Cast's Real Life Partners

From who originally wanted to pass on the show to unexpected rain storms during filming, here are 13 behind-the-scenes facts about Outer Banks.

The cast lived in the same complex while filming season 1

Stokes, who plays Pogue leader John B. Routledge in the series, told Nylon in 2020 that the entire cast was housed in the same apartment complex while they filmed the first season. He lived with Pankow, and Daviss bunked with Austin North, who plays Topper.

Cline lived a floor below the boys, and Drew Starkey (Rafe Cameron) and Bailey were a few minutes away.

“On the weekends everybody would come over, play games, blast music, eat food,” Stokes said. “We had a lot of time collectively as a cast to really sink our teeth into — not just mine and Maddie’s relationship — but everybody as a whole. It was kind of this natural organic thing for everybody.”

Stokes initially turned down the role of John B ...

When his agent first sent him a breakdown for Outer Banks, Stokes initially turned the role of John B down.

"I was like, 'That's The Goonies. That's for sure The Goonies. I don't want to destroy that,' ” the actor said during a 2021 appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. “So I passed on it. And I was like, 'Nope. Not doing that.' "

... and read for Topper instead

After turning down the lead, Stokes said he decided to read for Topper (John B’s arch-nemesis)  because he was “so broke.” But the actor told Jimmy Kimmel Live! guest host Anthony Anderson that he “bombed” the audition.

Two weeks later, another casting director reached out to Stokes’ agent about John B. The actor read the script this time and realized that it wasn’t The Goonies at all.

“So I read it, and I immediately was sitting in my borderline-evicted apartment and I was like, 'I made a giant mistake. It's not The Goonies. It's literally not The Goonies.'” he said. “And I had fully convinced myself for a month-and-a-half at this point that it's The Goonies.”

Stokes landed the role two days later.

Pankow auditioned for the role of Rafe

Stokes wasn’t the only cast member to almost play an entirely different character. In a 2023 Cosmopolitan interview, Starkey said both he and Pankow read for the character Rafe. Even though Pankow was eventually chosen for JJ, Starkey said the two characters have a lot of similarities.

“Rudy, you and I talked about this because you were in the mix auditioning for Rafe,” Starkey said. “At one point, we were like, ‘These guys are really just two sides of the same coin.’ A lot of the same motivations and the freedom that we have to really do whatever.”

Cline and Stokes dated in real life

Stokes and Cline once took their on-screen chemistry off-screen. After months of speculation, the former couple confirmed their relationship in June 2020. They dated for over a year before breaking up in November 2021. In a 2023 interview with Entertainment Weekly, they opened up about what it’s like working with an ex.

"We made a promise to each other before we even started dating that the work was always going to come first," Stokes said. "And that no matter what happens in our personal lives, and the ways that life sometimes takes you in different directions, that we're always going to honor the work. That stayed 100 percent truthful this season."

Both Stokes and Cline have moved on. Cline was romantically linked to Pete Davidson before their split in early 2024 and Stokes has been dating musician Kelsea Ballerini since January 2023.

Some of the cast quarantined together to promote the show

In a 2020 interview with Cosmopolitan, Cline revealed that she quarantined with Pankow, Stokes and Starkey for a month and a half while they promoted the first season of Outer Banks.

“It was honestly like having the greatest support system ever,” the actress said. “We’d have our interviews and then we would make mimosas or celebrate and talk about it.”

Rain was not planned for John B and Sarah’s first kiss

John B and Sarah’s first kiss — a rain-soaked smooch on a ferry — wasn’t entirely planned. Cline told Cosmopolitan that director Cherie Nowlan almost called off filming for the day when she saw it was going to be raining for hours.

“I remember Chase, [creator] Jonas [Pate], and I kinda looked at each other and we were all like, ‘Let’s do it. We gotta do this. This is amazing, this is kismet right now, that is so romantic,’ ” Cline said. “We made sure with our camera department and everybody that it was okay, because you’re asking a lot of people to stand out in the rain ... [The crew] was like, ‘Hell yes, we’re doing this, full Notebook vibes.’ “

Stokes helped build Poguelandia 2.0

The actor didn’t just nail in some boards for filming during season 4. Stokes told Tudum that he happened to be in town while the set for Poguelandia 2.0 (the two-story bait shop and house the Pogues live and work out of in season 4) was being built and chipped in by nailing in a few floorboards.

“I was doing all of these random things around there, and I realized, ‘Oh, I’m getting some sweat equity in this building as Chase and not as John B,’ ” he said. 

Pankow had to defend his real-life girlfriend from fans

In a 2021 Instagram post, Pankow asked fans to stop harassing his girlfriend, Elaine Siemek. The Outer Banks star wrote in the caption that the lies and accusations targeted towards her went “beyond the normal ‘hate.’ ”

“Not only is she not what she is being accused of being, she is the complete opposite and actively is so,” Pankow wrote in the caption. “Accusing someone you don’t know of being abusive and manipulative is not ok, especially when you don’t know the relationship personally ... To those who are creating such displeasure and opinions about the one I love and my relationship, it’s time to stop.”

Pankow and Siemek, who worked as an assistant on Outer Banks, have been dating since at least November 2020.

The cast cried after Ward’s death scene

Fans may not have mourned Ward (Sarah’s violent father who tries to stop her and the Pogues from finding the treasure) when he died at the end of season 3, but his castmates sure did.

Cline told Tudum that Charles “Chip” Esten, who played her father on-screen, became a dad to everyone on set. According to Grant (Cleo), everyone cried on the way back from shooting Chip’s final scene.

“It was such a long ride back to the hotel, and Chip was just giving us all advice,” Cline said. “It was so sad.”

Stokes doesn’t relate to his character’s decisions now that he’s older

The actor, who turned 32 in September, told Cosmopolitan that he’s finding it harder and harder to relate to his teenage character John B as the years go on.

“One of the things about being 32 now is you read the script and you’re like,’Why are you not thinking about this decision?’ ” Stokes said. “It’s really hard to relate to at times. And I think that’s why these guys get a little bit irritated at work with me, because I ask so many questions to understand and justify some of these actions. I would love to sit John B.’s ass down and shake him into some sense.” 

The final line of season 3 was an inside joke

The third season of Outer Banks ends with John B saying “hot damn” — a phrase Stokes told Tudum in 2023 was an inside joke on set.

Apparently every time the cameras were about to start rolling, the first assistant director would say “hot damn.” It became such a thing, that executive producer Jonas Pate secretly asked Stoke to say the quip as his final line that season.