12 Behind-the-Scenes Secrets of “Outer Banks”, Straight from the Cast and Crew

Jason Sargent Saturday, August 22, 2026

Emily Blackwood, Nicole PomaricoSat, August 22, 2026 at 1:30 PM UTC

The cast of ‘Outer Banks’Credit: Jackson Lee Davis/Netflix -

Teen drama Outer Banks premiered on Netflix in 2020 and dropped its fifth and final season on Aug. 20

The series stars Chase Stokes, Madelyn Cline, Madison Bailey, Jonathan Daviss, Carlacia Grant and formerly Rudy Pankow

The cast has shared behind-the-scenes secrets about the making of the show

Outer Banks had quite the run.

When the action-packed Netflix drama premiered in 2020, it followed a group of treasure-hunting Pogues — John B (Chase Stokes), Sarah (Madelyn Cline), Kiara (Madison Bailey), Pope (Jonathan Daviss) and JJ (Rudy Pankow) — who set out to track down some of history’s most elusive artifacts against all odds, with many of those odds being the richer, more power-hungry Kooks.

Following the introduction of Cleo (Carlacia Grant), the tragic death of beloved Pogue JJ and several near-death experiences, Outer Banks’ fifth season dropped on Netflix on Aug. 20. Show creators Shannon Burke, Jonas Pate and Josh Pate announced on Instagram in November 2024 that season 5 would also serve as the conclusion.

“[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.”

From who originally wanted to pass on the show to unexpected rainstorms during filming, here are 12 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 May 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 ...

Chase Stokes attends the Netflix Premiere of Outer Banks Season 3 at Regency Village Theatre on February 16, 2023 in Los Angeles, California.Credit: Charley Gallay/Getty

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 July 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 John B’s arch-nemesis, Topper (Austin North), 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

Rudy Pankow as JJ in episode 402 of Outer Banks.Credit: Jackson Lee Davis/Netflix

Stokes wasn’t the only cast member to almost play an entirely different character. In an October 2024 conversation with Cosmopolitan, 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

Chase Stokes as John B and Madelyn Cline as Sarah in episode 204 of Outer Banks.Credit: JACKSON LEE DAVIS/NETFLIX

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 February 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.”

Some of the cast quarantined together to promote the show

In a May 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 Poguelandia 2.0 on the set of ‘Outer Banks’Credit: Jackson Lee Davis/Netflix

The actor didn’t just nail in some boards for filming during season 4. Stokes previously 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.

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.”

More recently, Daviss told PEOPLE in August 2026 that Stokes and Bailey “cried the most” on the last day of filming season 5. “Those two are the big criers,” he said.

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

The actor, who is now in his early thirties, told Cosmopolitan that he found it harder and harder to relate to his teenage character John B as the years went 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 at the time. “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

Madelyn Cline as Sarah Cameron, Chase Stokes as John B in episode 310 of Outer Banks.Credit: Jackson Lee Davis/Netflix

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 Stokes to say the quip as his final line that season.

Stokes saved Bailey from drowning during filming

Chase Stokes as John B, Madison Bailey as Kiara, Madelyn Cline as Sarah Cameron in ‘Outer Banks’ season 4Credit: Jackson Lee Davis/Netflix

During an August 2026 game of “Lie v. Lie” with Entertainment Weekly, Stokes opened up about the time he saved Bailey from drowning on set.

“We were in Barbados and there’s a scene when JJ gets knocked off of a boat, and he’s unconscious in the water and Kiara’s holding him up,” he said, explaining he soon realized he “couldn’t see Bails’ face anymore.”

“It was really hard to communicate,” he continued. “I was like, ‘Oh no, Bails has been under there for a while.’ So I jumped off the boat and I realized that she was not able to breathe underwater.”

Stokes said that everyone seemed to think they were “in the scene” and doing “great,” but he realized she was drowning, not acting.

Before discussing the incident, Bailey jokingly told her costar that he makes a “bad day worse” because of how easily he is able to swim.

“I swear he’s breathing under there just to make me look bad,” she said.

on People

Original Article on Source

Source: “AOL Entertainment”

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