The first part of Outer Banks season 4 is finally here! I caught up with stars Rudy Pankow, Chase Stokes, Drew Starkey, Madelyn Cline, Madison Bailey, Jonathan Daviss, and Carlacia Grant to reflect on everything that happened. Please note: these interviews will contain spoilers.
Following last season’s 18-month flash-forward showing Wes Genrette’s proposal for the Pogues to find Blackbeard’s treasure, Season 4 takes us back in time to the lead-up of that moment. After finding the gold at El Dorado, the Pogues return to the OBX and commit to having a “normal” life. They’ve built themselves a new safe haven, officially dubbed “Poguelandia 2.0”, where they live together and run a fairly successful bait, tackle, and charter tour shop. But after some financial setbacks, John B, Sarah, Kiara, JJ, Pope, and Cleo take Wes up on his offer, drawn back into the “G” game for a whole new adventure. But before they know it, they’re well in over their heads, with dangerous new enemies hot on their heels racing them to the treasure. Meanwhile, their problems are only growing, and they’re forced to question their past, present, and future – who they really are, has it all been worth it, and how much are they willing to risk?
In episode 4×05, JJ finds out that Luke isn’t actually his father and that his real mother drowned when he was an infant. Pankow opened up to me about his feelings on this big revelation: “It was a shock to myself. Like, Gary, I’ve always pictured as like, oh, that makes so much sense, and his version of Luke is just so like, yeah, that makes so much sense in JJ’s brain. So it was also a shock to me and then, finding out that that’s where they went with episode five, I thought like, okay, that’s gonna really shock JJ in a sense of where it’s like he is gonna lose complete identity of who he thinks he is. I think that’s like… it’s literally, and something JJ says, it’s Etch A Sketching literally himself. It’s like, ‘okay, I am completely now lost,’ and I think in a weird sense, that actually gives him a lot of anxiety, but also hope.”
One of my personal favorite scenes was the turtle hatch and naturally, I had to ask Bailey about the significance of it. “I’m not gonna lie, I cried. Like, tears down my face when I first read it and I didn’t know why I had that reaction, I was like, why is this so sad? I felt so sad for the turtles, I felt this scene actually very deeply,” the actress told me. “I think, for this character, for Kiara, this is something that she’s talked about loving for so many seasons and her seeing it finally is… I was really excited that we were seeing that, something that was mentioned so early on into fruition, you see this is Kiara’s joy. This is what makes her happy and you’re seeing it for the first time of like, Kiara’s heart and her care for the world.”
“I do think John B sort of created a fictional version of his father and the idea of getting back with him and then, once he was faced with reality and he realized that he was actually the same guy who left him to go treasure hunt, despite all of that, you’re still losing a parent and that loss has a level of trauma that takes time to sort of sit with. And so, we’re seeing him battle that in the same space of trying to do what’s right and in a world where they need money and the one thing that they know how to do and do well, I guess, is find treasure,” Stokes explained regarding how his character is dealing with the Pogues’ latest treasure hunt. “When he hits that point where he does pull the gun, I think it’s a huge realization for him that there is a biological connection to his father, and some of the choices that he has made and his father have made are sort of starting to intertwine. So I think it’s a huge reflection point for him on how to move forward after that.”
As for Sarah, she’s fully embracing Pogue life and Cline is relieved. “I was very happy,” she commented. “It was very fun to explore the one foot in one world, one foot in the other but at some point, I was ready for Sarah to make a choice and I think it was nice. It was nice to see her fully embrace her new home, her newfound family, her chosen family, her best friends, these people that she’s been on these wild crazy rides with. So, it was nice and I’ve been wanting that for a while for her.”
Cleo is dealing with a huge loss this season after Terrance, who was trying to protect her, was killed. “It was heartbreaking to do and to portray for Cleo because she hasn’t had anyone constant in her life and Terrance has been the person who’s known her the longest,” Grant expressed. “He didn’t get to see how she was doing, like the way they kind of separated, she went her way, she never really got to say goodbye. She never really got to atone for what happened and then, before they could get to have that conversation, he dies. So, just leveling that as a character and as an actor, and me personally being so close to Terence and Terence has always been great to me, and just putting all of those feelings, it was a moment.”
Thankfully, Pope is there for her. “In my headcanon, in my backstory, this is Pope’s first serious relationship and I think he really admires her confidence and her ability to just kind of trust in herself. She makes her own decisions and she sticks to them. She’s very decisive and she’s very secure in herself, and I think Pope really admires that about her,” Daviss shared. “I think it only makes sense that they’re together now and we got to kind of see them settle into each other and not be so awkward with each other like, they’re in a really nice relationship. So it was just fun to be able to do that with Laci this year and really explore that side of everything.”
With Rafe seemingly ready to reconcile with his sister, Starkey said, “He’s in a period of maturing, I think. There’s been 18 months since we picked up in the story. He’s lost the most important person in his life and I think he realizes the only way to healing through that loss is to reconnect with people. And so, I think he’s in a period where he wants to find a bit of peace in himself. So, yeah, we’ll see if that is true or not.”
We discussed that huge Part 1 cliffhanger, important character moments, their favorite improv scenes, and, of course, the ships.
Watch my interviews below:
