Here’s what we think is coming.
Outer Banks Season 4 ended in the most devastating way possible, with the death of JJ Maybanks, one of the main characters and original Pogues. The show, which has followed John B. (Chase Stokes), Sarah (Madelyn Cline), Kiara (Madison Bailey), JJ (Rudy Pankow), Pope (Jonathan Daviss), and Cleo (Carlacia Grant), or the Pogues, in hunting treasure for four seasons, is set to end with the fifth and final season. And as far as we know, that final season will have to be told without one of the main cast members.
When Season 4 starts the Pogues are fresh off the high from finding the treasure of El Dorado. The group buys lands, sets up a business and lives comfortably for eighteen months before reality intrudes. With taxes to pay and the possibility of losing their home looking more real than ever, the group embarks on another adventure, this time going after the Blue Crown, a valuable artifact that is also said to grant wishes to whoever possesses it.
But the season also sees them discover that JJ is not actually a Pogue—a distinction made according to wealth and status—but a Kook because his family is actually pretty rich. He is, in fact, the son of Larissa Genrette and Chandler Groff. It’s this same Groff that ends up killing JJ at the end of the season, after taking the Blue Crown from him.
Whether Pankow left because of a storytelling decision as the showrunners have stated or the rumors of a feud with co-star Madison Bailey are true, the setup for Season 5 is pretty set in stone by the last few moments of Season 4: JJ is dead and the Pogues are going to get revenge. But what is going to happen in Outer Banks Season 5? What do we know and what can we speculate about? Here’s all the information we have.
Outer Banks Season 5 theories
Rafe and Kiara will get together
Chances of it happening: Slim
Some fans have shipped Rafe (Drew Starkey) and Kiara (Madison Bailey) for a while, and those fans have taken JJ’s death as an opportunity going into the final season. When the question of where Rafe and Kiara stood at the end of Season 4 was posed to the co-showrunners, Josh Pate said “I don’t know how much they’re thinking about each other at the end of this season. I think Kiara is really consumed with revenge, and so is Rafe. He has different motivations, but he is more bonded with the Pogues than he’s ever been.”
He also said, specifically about the ship. “It’s a hard turn to go straight to a Rafe and Kiara ’ship given where they’ve been in the past. But we also know how great Drew and Madison are as actors and how great they are together. So, we’re definitely going to explore that relationship.”
Does that mean they will explore the relationship romantically? Unlikely, considering the short timeframe the show is operating on—revenge means there won’t be a big time jump, and that means Kiara will still be mourning, while Rafe is still thinking about his girlfriend (or is it ex-girlfriend?) back home.
JJ will return at the end of the show
Chance of it Happening: Low
Perhaps the most common theory about the end of Season 4 is that yes, JJ is dead, but the Pogues will get their hands on the Blue Crown and bring him back to life. It is, after all, strange that the show introduced a magical artifact that grants wishes just as one of the Pogues dies. What else are they going to wish for if not for JJ to return?
However, both the showrunners and Rudy Pankow himself have been very categorical about this being the end of JJ, with Netflix even releasing a video with the cast saying goodbye to JJ. In that video, Madison Bailey, who plays Kiara, gets very emotional about Pankow’s departure.
“We all read the character on the page and we know what you brought to it,” she said while fighting back tears. “And you turned it out, you really made something of it and paid respect to the depth of the character while bringing a lightheartedness that the show desperately needed.” Pankow can be seen tearing up as well.
Of course, if JJ were to return, it would be the kind of twist the show would not confirm now. And Pankow and Bailey’s interaction in this video makes it seem like the rumors are just that, rumors, opening the door to Pankow’s possible return.
Kiara will get her revenge and end up with the Blue Crown
Chances of it happening: High
Kiara was the one that saw JJ get murdered by Chandler Groff. Not just that, JJ was killed by his own father after saving Kiara’s life by giving up the Blue Crown. JJ even tells his father that he’s got all he needs, referring to Kiara and the Pogues, which seems to anger Groff and lead to his decision to kill his son.
So, speculation is that Kiara and the Pogues are going to go after Groff in Outer Banks Season 5, and they are going to end up with the Blue Crown, which will allow them a chance to truly start fresh. And this same speculation that almost seems obvious has led fans to ask—if the Blue Crown really grants wishes, why can’t it bring JJ back?
Sarah and John B. will name their kid JJ
Chances of it happening: High
Outer Banks has been accompanied by a voiceover from John B. since the beginning. In a way, it’s almost like John B. is telling us the story. But some fans have theorized that John B. isn’t telling the audience the story, but his child. And that this child, who we have yet to see born, will be named after JJ. It makes a great deal of sense, as tragic as it is, because JJ did just save Sarah’s life, and the two were thinking of making him a godfather even before that. So, one last tribute to JJ Maybanks?