Outer Banks

Fans of the hit series had been clamoring for Outer Banks to return for some time, and they finally got season 3 in late February 2023. The show has been able to draw a large audience to Netflix and this time around was no different.

Appealing to a broad set of audiences, Netflix has been producing content for years that seeks to depict the lives of many different Americans in new lights never seen before on other streamers like Hulu and Disney+. They struck gold with the release of the first season of Outer Banks during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in April 2020.

The television series that has redefined the teen drama genre, Outer Banks depicts a group of kids from opposite ends of the wealth spectrum who engage in a treasure map mystery for the ages.

Set along a backdrop of a particular community within the Outer Banks of North Carolina, the show has broken new ground since its release.

Critics and audiences have been kind to Outer Banks over the course of its three-season run so far. Rotten Tomatoes currently ranks the series with a Tomatometer score of 78 percent and an audience score of 80 percent.

In his review of the series for IndieWire, writer Steve Greene notes that Outer Banks is in a “CW-styled middle ground between The Goonies and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.”

The series is a peek inside the conflict between the Kooks and the Pogues with a bit of an enigma wrapped into it.

CHASE STOKES, MADELYN CLINE, AND OTHERS STAR IN OUTER BANKS

The series stars Chase Stokes, Madelyn Cline, Madison Bailey, Rudy Pankow, Jonathan Daviss, Charles Harford, and Charles Esten all returned for this last season.

Chase Stokes and Madelyn Cline lead the cast as John B. and Sarah respectively with their relationship, and inner-dynamics at the core of much of the story. It’s a classic, different-sides-of-the-tracks (or in this case, island) bit with their backgrounds decidedly juxtaposed.

But it’s worked on drawing in viewers for sure and their larger family dynamics are at play as well.

As Outer Banks concerns the group of teenagers known as the Pogues, their search for John B’s missing dad has been the series’ focal point thus far.

Madison Bailey, Rudy Pankow, and Jonathan Daviss round out the core group of friends that make up the main cast.

OUTER BANKS FILMS IN SOUTH CAROLINA

Outer Banks has enjoyed its time at Netflix and the backdrop for the series has been as important as any of the characters really. It’s named after a place after all and the stories has a geographic bent because of where each character comes from in this area.

The series is notable for not actually filming in North Carolina as initially intended. All three seasons have mostly been filmed in nearby Charleston, South Carolina, with some scenes in Barbados.

Much like other teen dramas produced before Outer Banks, the series is filmed in another state than the show’s setting. One of the series creators, Jonas Pate, had wanted Wilmington, North Carolina, to be the filming location of Outer Banks.

However, Netflix said no as they prepared the first season, due to North Carolina’s proposed bathroom bill that discriminated against trans residents.

OUTER BANKS SEASON 3 PICKED UP THE MYSTERY BEHIND JOHN B’S FATHER

The first season of Outer Banks stemmed from John B (Chase Stokes) and his interest in living up to his missing father’s legacy of finding the Royal Merchant.

Lost at seas in the 1800s with a supposed treasure of $400 million in gold at stake, John B enlists his Pogue friends to help look for the fabled ship. With the wind at their backs and the murderous Cameron family on them at every step, the Pogues find the vessel but split up in the process.

Outer Banks Season 2 outlined the search for the Cross of Santo Domingo while inner conflicts arose between the wealthy Kooks and the working-class Pogues. Car chases and criminal elements kept viewers on edge. 

At the same time, Sarah (Madelyn Cline) fell in love with John B. Her father, Ward (Charles Esten), and brother Rafe (Drew Starkey) became the series’ villains, introducing new family issues for Sarah that get fleshed out.

Coming into Outer Banks Season 3, many characters found themselves on a deserted island, but then they set out searching for the legendary Shroud of Turin.

John B and his father had a fated reunion this time around and things built towards this culminating moment.

THE OUTER BANKS CAST HAS BEEN WORKING ON OTHER PROJECTS

After the success of Outer Banks in 2020, Hollywood recognized that the young cast of the series has the talent to appear in other projects in between filming seasons of the show. With notable movies on their resumes now, the cast of Outer Banks has worked with incredible directors and actors before the Season 3 release date.

Outer Banks actor Chase Stokes, who stars in the series as Pogues leader John B Routledge, appeared in the 2021 film Dr. Bird’s Advice for Sad Poets alongside Taylor Russell and David Arquette.

After a career that has seen Stokes with a role in Stranger Things and music videos for Kygo, the performer will next be featured in the Netflix science-fiction film The Uglies.

Madelyn Cline portrays Sarah Cameron on Outer Banks, John B’s love interest and a rebellious character in the series. Cline’s star has been rising for years, with appearances in noteworthy television shows Vice Principals and The Originals.

She had an incredible year in 2022 with the release of Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, contributing to the ensemble cast of Rian Johnson’s whodunit that includes Dave Bautista, Kate Hudson, Edward Norton, Daniel Craig, and Janelle Monáe.

A Carolina native, Madison Bailey is newer to the entertainment industry, with Outer Banks being one of her first recurring stints on television. Playing the wealthy Kie Carrera on the series, Bailey has become a staple of Outer Banks and one of its lead characters. She was featured in the movie Supercool and costarred on an American Horror Stories episode in 2021.

Streaming platform Netflix has been kind to many of its actors, including Jonathan Daviss, who will return to Outer Banks as Pope Heyward in Season 3 when the release date cropped up in February. Often regarded as the smartest of the Pogues, Pope is a central character of the show that has helped to define Jonathan Daviss’ career.

As a member of the Netflix family, Daviss was featured as Elliot in Do Revenge, the high school dark comedy released in 2022 with Camila Mendes and Maya Hawke.

Actor Rudy Pankow embodies the character of JJ Maybank on Outer Banks, John B’s crazy best friend. Pankow recently appeared in the 2022 action thriller Uncharted, playing the brother of Tom Holland’s Nathan Drake in the film based on the video game of the same name. He will next be seen in a slew of upcoming movies, including The Crusades, Space Waves, and Chocolate Lizards.

Charles Esten stars on Outer Banks as Ward Cameron, but the television veteran brings with him a steady career full of notable appearances in hit shows.

He co-starred as Deacon Claybourne in the musical drama Nashville with Connie Britton from 2012 to 2018. A fixture on the improvisation comedy show Whose Line Is It Anyway, Esten is also an accomplished musician.

Drew Starkey plays Ward’s son Rafe Cameron and will contribute to Outer Banks Season 3 as a villain when the series comes back with a release date next month. Outside of Outer Banks, Starkey has appeared on Scream: Resurrection and The Terminal List.

OUTER BANKS SEASON 4 HAS BEEN CONFIRMED BY NETFLIX

After another solid season on the stream, Outer Banks will be coming back for a fourth season. This was pretty obvious from the season 3 finale and it stands to reason the group will be setting out on another treasure hunt. That much was teased as this last set of stories closed out.