The “Outer Banks” star also shared a tip for up-and coming-actors.

Chase Stokes reveals how he botched Top Gun: Maverick audition: ‘Don’t wing it’

The “Outer Banks” star also shared a tip for up-and coming-actors.

By Shelby Stivale

Shelby Stivale

Shelby Stivale is a senior writer at **. She has been working at EW since July 2026. Her work has previously appeared on Us Weekly and J-14.

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August 21, 2026 2:37 p.m. ET

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Chase Stokes; Tom Cruise in ‘Top Gun: Maverick’. Credit:

Stephanie Augello/Variety via Getty;Paramount Pictures

- Chase Stokes revealed how he botched an audition for *Top Gun: Maverick* and costar Madison Bailey was floored.

- The *Outer Banks *costars were playing a game of “Lie vs. Lie” with **.

- The final season of their Netflix show premiered on Aug. 20.

Madison Bailey has one major tip for *Outer Banks** *costar Chase Stokes after learning how he botched an audition for *Top Gun: Maverick*.

The actress, who reprises her role as Kiara in the Netflix teen drama’s fifth and final season, laughs during a new installment of **’s “Lie vs. Lie,” as Stokes recalls a royal Hollywood fail. Bailey tells her costar that he should “read the other words on the page” before auditioning for anything.

“I once read for a movie that had to do with airplanes, and so I thought the audition was me as the said driver of an airplane,” Stokes admits. Bailey corrects him: “The pilot.”

Unfortunately, Stokes was *so *wrong about the role.

Stokes “did the whole audition” before being told that he was actually reading for the role of an air traffic controller.

“They gave me a note. The note was, ‘You’re actually not flying a plane,’” the *Valiant One *actor recalls. Bailey starts to laugh upon realizing her friend’s mistake.

Chase Stokes as John B on ‘Outer Banks’.

Jackson Lee Davis/Netflix

Stokes says he offered to try again, but was told to “leave” the audition room.

“This is funny because, what were you doing?” Bailey wonders. Stokes admits that he “should have read the sides” for context, because all the information was “right there” on the page.

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“Read the materials, don’t wing it,” Stokes advises other actors. He then drops a major bomb, revealing that the audition was for *Top Gun: Maverick*, and Bailey can’t help but laugh. (The 2022 hit sequel to 1986’s *Top Gun* featured Tom Cruise reprising his role as Pete “Maverick” Mitchell and also starred Miles Teller.)

“I was like, ‘I got it. It’s a pilot, flying a plane.’ No, air traffic controller,” Stokes continues. “I was like, ‘Oh, nice.’”

While Stokes didn’t make it into the *Top Gun *franchise, the actor has found plenty of success playing John B in Netflix’s *Outer Banks*, a role he debuted in April 2020. The actor returns for one last ride in the fifth and final season, which premiered Aug. 20.

Both Stokes’ John B and Bailey’s Kiara attempt to find a happy ending in the last 10 episodes after the loss of their best friend JJ (Rudy Pankow) during the fourth season finale.

All episodes of *Outer Banks *are now streaming on Netflix. Listen to Stokes tell his audition story— and see how much he and Bailey *really *know about each other — in the video above.

- Outer Banks (TV Series)

Original Article on Source

Source: “EW Outer”