Spoilers for season 1 of Outer Banks below.
Watching Netflix’s soapy teen drama Outer Banks left us longing for a tan, a fictional summer romance, and a sun-drenched vacation—especially after more
than a year in pandemic-induced quarantine. But more than anything, it left us craving a second season to make sense of the show’s wild final episode. Thankfully, our Outer Banks fantasies are coming true: Netflix confirmed there will be a second season dropping this summer.
Outer Banks follows the socioeconomic warfare between the elite Kooks and working-class Pogues in the North Carolina region known as the Outer Banks. “It’s the sort of place where you either have two jobs or two houses,” the show’s trailer explains. “Two tribes, one island.” At the show’s center is a treasure hunt for $400 million aboard a sunken ship. Along the way, there are love triangles and murder motives to satisfy all your horny and vindictive urges.
If you, too, found yourself invested in a series that manages to fill the gaps One Tree Hill, The Goonies, and Gossip Girl left in your life,here’s everything you need to know about when the Pogues will be back to make your summer that much brighter.
Outer Banks season 2 has been confirmed.
On July 24, 2020, more than three months after the 10-episode drama’s April 15, 2020, release date, Netflix announced season 2 was on its way. Cast members Chase Stokes (John B), Madelyn Cline (Sarah Cameron), Madison Bailey (Kiara), Jonathan Daviss (Pope), Rudy Pankow (JJ), Austin North (Topper), Drew Starkey (Rafe), Deion Smith (Kelce), and Charles Esten (Ward Cameron) are all slated to return.
Additionally, the season 2 announcement post confirmed some of the new episodes will take place in the Bahamas, with the caption, “see you in the bahamas ✌️.”
The cast announced production finished in April.
On April 5, 2021, Stokes, Cline, and Daviss revealed through emotional Instagram posts that “OBX2” has wrapped.
“What a labor of love this season has been,” Stokes wrote. “To the best crew in this business. Thank you. You have fought through adversity with a sense of humor. Sacrificed your time during a global pandemic to bring to life another incredibly compelling story. This isn’t an easy show to do, and for those that are there before we get to work, and those who stay when we leave. My heart is filled with gratitude for you. This is more than just a tv show. This has become a big ole’ family.”
Netflix revealed the first official images from season 2, as well as when we can expect to see our Pogues back on the beach.
After weeks of speculation over when John B, Sarah, and co. will make their eagerly awaited return, Netflix finally announced on May 14 that OBX2 will arrive this summer—and dropped a tease in the form of four new official photos. Let's break them down.
Season 2 will address the finale's major cliffhanger.
It’s hard to imagine any viewer would be satisfied with Outer Banks ending after that season 1 finale, which saw the Pogues discover gold within the depths of the sunken Royal Merchant. When Ward, Sarah’s father and a major roadblock in her romance with John B, steals the loot and frames John B for murder, the star-crossed lovers flee the Outer Banks in a boat that capsizes during a tropical storm. Sarah and John B survive (though no one else knows that) and are rescued at sea by another boat. Their presumed next moves? Taking back the treasure from Ward and clearing John B's name.
When ELLE.com spoke to Cline, she expressed a desire to see Sarah become a stronger presence in her dynamic with John B. “I can’t wait to see where the story goes when John B and Sarah get to the Bahamas. My wish is that we continue to see Sarah come into her own and grow into this badass,” she explained. “I want her to match John B’s crazy—like a Bonnie and Clyde-type dynamic between them. That sounds like a lot of fun to play as an actor. As far as Sarah goes, I want to see her grow into her own person, and not be under the influence or control of her dad.”
Madison Bailey says “there’s so much new adventure” in the new season.
Bailey spoke candidly with ELLE.com about shooting season 2 with COVID-19 safety precautions and what to expect when the new season opens. “We start season 2 with the three Pogues [Kie, JJ, and Pope] in the Outer Banks grieving and figuring out their life without John B, Sarah, and what that means for the mission,” she said. “How are we going to go about this when it’s just us? Then you get to see John B and Sarah in the Bahamas doing their thing.”
Get ready to welcome a few newcomers to the cast.
Season 2 will introduce an unknown character: Cleo. “Confident and fearless, Cleo is a Nassau girl, a formidable artful dodger, whose world collides with the Pogues,” according to Deadline. We don’t know much else about her—whether she’s Pogue or Kook, friend or foe—other than the actress who will play her: Carlacia Grant, whose former acting credits include Roots and Greenleaf.
Grant will be joined by Elizabeth Mitchell of Lost and Once Upon a Time fame. She’ll play a “long-time Charleston native” known as Limbrey. This one sounds more like a villain. Check the description: “[Limbrey is] a compelling woman with a level of toxicity and menace underneath her seemingly courteous ways.”
The next season starts with a time jump.
In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Cline let slip a tiny spoiler: The series opens with a leap forward in time. “This is a micro time jump,” she said. “[There’s] the kind of shock where you turn the page… and you read that moment and you [gasp] and then your mind starts going a thousand miles a minute. You’re like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is going to be so fun to shoot.’”
The show’s creator envisions four or five seasons of the show.
During an April 2020 interview with Entertainment Weekly, creator and showrunner Jonas Pate revealed his plans for the show extend far beyond season 2. “Ever since we started, we always viewed it as something that was probably like a four-season, maybe five-season show, but definitely four seasons,” Pate said. “We’ve sort of long-arced it out pretty far. I’m just hoping that we get a chance to actually tell those stories.”
Pate wasted no time mapping out a second season in quarantine. He told Entertainment Weeklythat “before [season 1] even came out, Netflix had greenlit us to write some [season 2] scripts, so we’ve been working on that for a few months now.”
He also elaborated on his vision for season 2 and teased “some new mysteries,” adding, “we love the mashup of friends on this fantasy thrilling adventure, and we feel like we really just played the opening round of that story,” Pate told the outlet. “And now that the audience knows our characters and the baseline engine of the mystery is going, we just feel like we have a lot more good twists and turns left to explore, so we’re excited for more.”
The characters have revenge on the brain.
Bailey told Seventeenshe thinks the Pogues will be seeking revenge over the presumed demise of John B. “There’s gonna be a whole new dynamic,” she explained. “How do you go about life without your best friend? I think it’s going to be rough on everyone. And we’re going to have to come together and take care of each other now more than ever. But revenge is going to be on all of our minds.”
Pankow also theorized that the absence of John B will be felt amongst the group. “Justice is going to be served, but it’s just a matter of who does it,” he told Seventeen. “I think I really want to see him struggle with coming to terms with the fact that his best friend is gone, and what’s the point in trying any more?”