NEED TO KNOW
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Outer Banks ended with its fifth and final season on Aug. 20
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Co-creators Josh Pate, Jonas Pate and Shannon Burke always envisioned the show would run for five seasons
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A prequel series set 20 years before the original show is in the works
Outer Banks has come to an end after five seasons.
In the final installment of the Netflix series, which dropped on Aug. 20, the Pogues — John B (Chase Stokes), Sarah (Madelyn Cline), Pope (Jonathan Daviss), Kiara (Madison Bailey) and Cleo (Carlacia Grant) — seek to avenge their friend JJ (Rudy Pankow) after his death in Morocco at the end of season 4.
When co-creators Josh Pate, Jonas Pate and Shannon Burke started developing the treasure-hunting teen mystery series, they envisioned telling the story of adventure and friendship across five seasons. They confirmed season 5 would be the last in a shared statement posted on Instagram after season 4 wrapped in November 2024.
“[We] hope to bring our beloved Pogues home in the way we imagined and planned it years ago,” they said in the statement, adding, “We think [season 5] will be our best yet.”
Here’s everything to know about why Outer Banks is ending — and what the co-creators have said about the upcoming prequel series.
Warning:Outer Banksspoilers ahead!
Why is Outer Banks ending?
The Outer Banks co-creators imagined the series would have a five-season run from the very beginning.
In their November 2024 statement, they further explained “it seemed impossible” that they’d get to tell the story across five seasons when they initially planned it in the summer of 2017. “But here we are, at the end of our fourth season, still chopping away,” the statement read.
From the beginning, “the overarching plan was to begin with just some kids who wanted to have a good time all the time, and take them on a whole journey,” Burke told Deadline that same month. Along the way, the co-creators knew one of those kids was going to die.
“Pretty early on, we knew that was going to be JJ, he’s the most reckless,” Burke said.
However, “everyone’s going to be satisfied” after season 5, as “all the stories are wrapped up,” Burke added.
What has the cast of Outer Banks said about the series ending?
Stokes is satisfied with the show’s ending, as it’s “exactly how I was told when I started the show.”
“We want the story to end on the right note versus [turning] four seasons into season nine and we’re going after aliens or something,” he told PEOPLE in December 2025. “We want to cut the chord before we lose the plot.”
However, Stokes “always be grateful for this show and for our showrunners,” as they took “a chance on a kid who had little to no credits on his résumé,” he told PEOPLE the previous year.
Similarly, Cline feels immense appreciation for the series, but is sad it’s ending.
“It’s the end of a big, big chapter of my life. But yes, it’s bittersweet, it’s emotional,” she told Extra TV in July 2025 of filming season 5. The Glass Onion star admitted she cried “at least two times a week” while filming but mostly “happy tears.”
, who plays Sarah’s brother Rafe, also felt those happy-sad emotions.
“It was totally bittersweet. We spent seven years on that show and those are my best friends and I felt, the last couple months of filming, I thought I was fine,” Starkey said on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in July. “I thought I was a sociopath. I was like, ‘I feel nothing, I’m ready to get out of here, I don’t care.’ “
The emotions hit Starkey after shooting his last scene. “Right when they yelled ‘cut,’ I was just weeping. Like, constantly,” he said.
Daviss also cried with the cast and crew after filming his last scene. “We all kind of embraced and just let it go because it’s more than just sadness. It’s so many things,” he told The Hollywood Reporter in August.
The actor compared the show to college. “You get to go do a show with all your friends, and it’s familiar. It feels good to come back,” he told the outlet, adding, “So I’m just going to miss everything about it, honestly, being in Charleston, filming the show, all the action, all the jokes, everything. The people the most for sure, though.”
Bailey had a similarly emotional experience to her castmates, sharing on Today in August that she tapped into those feelings to cry during heavy-hearted scenes.
“I looked around and everybody was just setting up the shot and I was just looking at the crew and I just started sobbing. And I was like, this is the end,” she said.
Will there be an Outer Banks spinoff?
The OBX co-creators are working on a prequel series set 20 years before the original, per Deadline.
“We’re working on the script,” Josh told the outlet in August. “We’re working hard on it with our awesome partners from Netflix, and we’re just trying to get all of it as good as it can be.”
According to Deadline, the prequel will focus on the teens’ parents and on how the divide between the working-class locals, Pogues, and wealthy residents, the Kooks, came to fruition.
“It really is the story of how the island split — and it’s particularly relevant in our country right now — how it split into the haves and have-nots, how the Kooks and the Pogues started,” Josh continued. “How did this rift start?”
Burke added, “And seen through the stories of some of the characters you know and some new characters. But they’re 20 years before, so it’s the parents’ generation.”
How can I watch Outer Banks?
All five seasons of Outer Banks are available to stream on Netflix.
Read the original article on People
