The Netflix drama Outer Banks ended its fifth and final season with Kiara Carrera, played by Madison Bailey, killing major villain Chandler Groff to secure a happy ending for her friends.
The series finale of the teen drama saw Kiara avenge the season four death of Jackson "JJ" Maybank by plunging Groff to the bottom of the ocean during a battle at sea.
Groff, played by J. Anthony Crane, had stolen $400 million in gold bars from Rose, played by Caroline Arapoglou, while posing as her boyfriend. He managed to load the stolen gold onto a boat in the middle of a violent tropical storm that devastated Kildare Island.
Kiara snuck onto the boat and hid to wait for her moment. Groff had previously drugged her and attempted to throw her overboard during the seventh episode of the season.
Kiara attacked him from behind with a knife, but Groff fought back and slammed her onto the deck.
The pair wrestled for the weapon as the boat navigated rough waters. Kiara pressed a button that hoisted the sail of the boat. The rope wrapped around the chest of Groff and carried him high above the sea.
Groff pleaded with Kiara, but she sliced the rope with her knife and sent him falling into the ocean with the entire pole.
The surviving characters, known as the Pogues, retrieved the gold. John B. Routledge, played by Chase Stokes, Sarah Cameron, played by Madelyn Cline, Pope Heyward, played by Jonathan Daviss, and Kiara split the fortune among themselves and started over.
Outer Banks follows a group of teenagers from North Carolina who hunt for legendary treasure. The show premiered in 2020 and quickly became one of the most watched series on Netflix.
Stokes expressed satisfaction with the ending in an interview with People magazine published last December.
"Thankful for the run, and we're ready to be done," Stokes said. "We want the story to end on the right note."
Crane told The Direct in January 2025 that he "became a scholar on that show" to master his role. He said there was "nothing left that's pretty inside" the onscreen villain, who attempted to kill almost everyone in the final season.
Behind the scenes of the hit drama
The cast built a close bond while filming the first season by living in the same apartment complex in Charleston, South Carolina. Stokes told Nylon magazine in 2020 that he lived with Rudy Pankow, who played JJ Maybank.
Jonathan Daviss and Austin North, who played Topper Thornton, lived a couple of doors down. Madelyn Cline lived on the floor below, and Madison Bailey lived five minutes away. Stokes said they would gather on weekends to play games, listen to loud music, and eat food.
Stokes almost missed out on his starring role. He passed on playing John B because he thought the script was too similar to the film The Goonies. He revealed on Jimmy Kimmel Live! in 2021 that he originally auditioned for Topper and bombed the reading.
He received a second chance two weeks later and realized his mistake while sitting in his borderline evicted apartment.
"I was like, 'I made a giant mistake. It's not The Goonies. It's literally not The Goonies,'" Stokes said. "And I had fully convinced myself for a month and a half at this point that it's The Goonies."
Weather delays and wild animals
Real weather disrupted the show during production for the first season in 2019. The cast and crew were forced to evacuate the Charleston set and travel to Asheville, North Carolina, because of Hurricane Dorian.
"We dipped," Bailey told Elite Daily in 2020, "and went to Asheville, North Carolina."
The rain almost stopped one of the most famous moments in the first season. A director considered wrapping filming for the day before Stokes and Cline filmed their first onscreen kiss on a ferry in the rain.
Cline told Cosmopolitan in May 2020 that she and Stokes looked at each other and decided to push forward.
"We were all like, 'Let's do it. We gotta do this. This is amazing, this is kismet right now, that is so romantic,'" Cline said. She added that the crew agreed the scene had full Notebook vibes, and they dedicated the entire day to making sure they did the scene justice.
Cline also had to deal with wildlife on the set. Creator Jonas Pate instructed a rat wrangler to drop a live rat on her head while filming the third season. She shared the story on The Tonight Show in October 2024.
"I was neck deep in water, so I was already freaking out. I looked like an island to the rat who's trying to save itself from drowning, as am I," Cline said. "The rat crawls up and it gets in my hair. I was screaming bloody murder!"
Romance off the screen
Stokes and Cline began dating in real life in June 2020 after meeting on the set. The pair announced their breakup in November 2021, but they agreed not to let it affect their onscreen relationship.
"We made a promise to each other before we even started dating that the work was always going to come first," Stokes told Entertainment Weekly in a February 2023 interview. "No matter what happens in our personal lives, and the ways that life sometimes takes you in different directions, that we're always going to honor the work."
Another onscreen romance required offscreen adjustments. Cline learned how to drive a manual transmission car specifically for the show, despite her character famously telling John B in season two that she could not drive stick.
Cast departures and online rumors
The cast mourned the departure of Charles "Chip" Esten, who played Sarah's father Ward Cameron, after his character was killed off in the third season. Carlacia Grant, who plays Cleo, told Netflix publication Tudum in 2023 that the cast was in tears after shooting his final scene.
She said Esten gave them all advice on the long ride back to their hotel.
Pankow had to defend his girlfriend, Elaine Siemek, from online trolls in August 2021. Siemek worked on the show, and Pankow posted on Instagram that she had received harassment and disrespect.
"Accusing someone you don't know of being abusive and manipulative is not ok," Pankow wrote. "Especially when you don't know the relationship personally." The couple was still together when the finale aired in August 2026.
Fans speculated about tension between Pankow and Bailey after they appeared to use body doubles for a campfire scene in the season four finale. Kiara rested her head on the shoulder of JJ, but the actors were never shown in the frame together.
Bailey dismissed the rumors of a rift following the series finale. She posted a behind the scenes photo of her male costars to Instagram with the caption "P4L," nodding to the group of Pogues being bonded for life.
