They weren’t expecting to be in Morocco for so long—or, honestly, even at all. In fact, Chase packed light before he boarded the plane to film the drama’s fourth season, which premieres October 10. “What we thought would be three weeks of shooting ended up being six,” the actor, who plays John B., the often shirtless leader of the group, says. “If you told us five years ago that this show about stoner kids from the wrong side of the tracks would end up in a place like Morocco...I think all of us would just laugh.”
Makes sense, considering Outer Banks (“OBX” to its devout fandom) is literally named after an American landmark, a sun-kissed stretch of vacation-worthy beach off the coast of North Carolina. The setting was at least partially responsible for the show’s number-one-on-Netflix success almost immediately after it first dropped in April 2020, a welcome escape for millions stuck at home in the early days of COVID-19. Equally responsible: The cast, an ensemble of very hot, usually sweaty, swimsuit-clad 20-somethings playing two groups of teens—the haves, or Kooks, and have-nots, or Pogues. The plot, a twisty, turny modern-day treasure hunt, didn’t hurt either. The entire watching experience was like putting your brain on ice for 45 minutes.
The four male leads—including Jonathan (“JD”), Rudy, and Drew, in their first major roles—were suddenly online superstars. Their social media followings exploded, from thousands to multiple millions, as the cast hosted regular Instagram livestreams, answering fan questions and teasing each other over new haircuts. Speculation about on-set romances only fed the fervor, which reached a peak when the series’ main couple, Chase’s John B. and Madelyn Cline’s Sarah, confirmed they were dating IRL. (Chase is currently dating country singer-songwriter Kelsea Ballerini; they walked their first Met Gala red carpet as a couple earlier this year.)
Seasons 2 and 3 brought more of the same, and as the world at large started to open back up, so did OBX’s scope—and, by extension, the opportunities for Chase, Jonathan, Rudy, and Drew. “When we started auditioning, nobody knew who we were,” says JD. Now, they’re capital-F famous adults, canvasing the globe shooting scenes in far-off places. And very ready to take on new roles.
Their new era has already begun: This September, Chase starred in Netflix’s dystopian movie Uglies. He and JD are executive producers on the upcoming short film Toledo. JD (who Drew says is “by far the most ambitious out of all of us”) also dove into the behind-the-camera parts of filmmaking, writing and directing the OBX season 4 in-show commercial. Meanwhile, Rudy just took the stage as Romeo in American Repertory Theater’s production of Romeo and Juliet. And Drew is starring alongside Daniel Craig in a new film, Queer, by Luca Guadagnino—yes, the Luca Guadagnino of Call Me by Your Name fame who Made Tennis Sexy with Challengers.
What hasn’t changed—yet, at least—is the rapport that made fans love these guys in the first place. That’s still very much in place, as evidenced by the second we all hop on Zoom this summer. “Rudy, did you just get shocked?” Chase asks as Rudy turns on his camera, revealing a head of tousled hair. “Every day, I’m shocking,” Rudy sings in response before pointing out that JD, too, has “shocking hair.” Not wanting to be left out, Chase starts ruffling up his locks. “Let me just join the group,” he says.
It’s not all jokes and hair fluffing though. We spend the next two hours going surprisingly deep on their past and futures, their hopes and insecurities, and, most importantly, the healing they’ve found in listening to each other.
So much of your success is entwined with your (enormous!) social media fandoms. How do you all set the line between who you are publicly and privately?
Rudy: I think everyone’s looking to celebrities to figure that out, but it’s a question for everyone.
JD: Social media is not a medium—not like acting. It’s a platform that’s moving so fast that sometimes you feel like you can’t keep up. When we came onto it after the show launched, it was mainly about the social aspect between us, as friends.
Chase: And it’s turned into an alternative type of marketing that has shaped other projects. I’ve had friends who work for other networks send me a screengrab when they’re going into promo—it’ll be like, “Please review the Outer Banks cast’s social media platforms as a reference for how we want to promote this show.” It’s been interesting that us having a bunch of beers and posting random shit turned into a component of the industry. Drew, you look confused.
Drew: What you said about the reviewing—
Chase: Not yours.
JD: Not you, Drew.
Chase: In quotations, “Disregard Drew Starkey.”
Right. Because, Drew, you only have a few posts on Instagram compared to your costars. Do you have a secret private account?
Drew: I had a private account at one point. Now I don’t know how to get in. I’d sent everyone on my Close Friends, “Hey guys, here’s my finsta account, follow me.” And then it just—
Chase: He doesn’t even know his password.
Drew: Yeah. It’s good for keeping up with people...but I have a hard time on it.
JD: It’s hard for him to text back, let alone—
Drew: It’s a more deeply rooted problem. This is a larger conversation about my communication.
Chase: This is actually not for Cosmo—this is an intervention for you. We’ve planned this for five years. It’s finally come into fruition.
Drew: Oh, I could smell it. I knew it as soon as we got in.
So the problem is...Drew, you don’t use your phone much?
Chase: No!
Drew: I don’t. It’s bad. I think I am getting better?1
JD: You don’t get to decide that.
Chase: I will say you have ebb and flow—you’re like a tide.
Drew: I go through waves.
Chase: Right now, not great.
1. Drew makes a face of uncertainty as he waits for his castmates’ affirmation.
What do you think are the pros and cons of having most of your followers come from one show?
Drew: A pro is that people watch the show. Like, wow. Most of the stuff I make, I have to pretend that no one will see it, as is so often the case. So to have this much of a following is incredible.
Rudy: The biggest pro is that it’s like, “Hey, this many people appreciated what you made.”
JD: The other side of that coin is the fear that comes in when you know you have that many eyes on you. You really get afraid of disappointing people.
Drew: It’s also a tough thing because we’ve been on this show for years. And that’s a bit different than doing a movie here, doing a movie there, and jumping around. This starts to become your identity in a lot of ways. Your relationship to the audience is intertwined with these characters that we’ve been playing. That can make jumping out of this world scarier.
Chase: When you are so invested into one project for five years, there’s that unclear line of your personal self and the character you play on the show. The industry has shifted too because now people see the platform, and they see that social media number. And sometimes there’s an expectation put on us, not as the artist but as the artist with the platform, to have that propel a project. But the artist in you wants to do more. You just hope that with the following the show created, a percentage of those people are interested in seeing you in different avenues.
There is also, obviously, figuring out how to react to the darker sides of being very online. Rudy, three years ago, you called out the harassment directed toward your girlfriend? What prompted you to speak out?
Rudy: I think a lot of people can intertwine a narrative and what they want to believe. And they take it out on someone that doesn’t deserve it. That’s unfortunate and it’s hard. And what’s even more unfortunate is that it’s not in my control. That’s why I spoke up—no one should go through something like that. And that’s why social media is so tricky, because sometimes it can enforce a narrative of a show as an actual narrative. For example, what we’re recording is meant to be consumed in the show. But some people might take it as literal.
Chase: I think it really boils down to: There are fictional characters and there are humans that created them. We’re in a time where you’re seeing a TikTok that is of the fictional character, and then you’re seeing a version of the nonfictional character. So the lines are really skewed.
Rudy, did you see a change after you posted?
Rudy: There were some folks that truly did hear it, and that is great. Then there’s a part of me that was like, What do I truly care about? And that’s how I led my life after that.
JD: Every generation goes through an invasion of privacy when you become a public figure. You wish, as an artist, people would engage in the art and you could have who you are to yourself. But now it’s about trying to figure out who you are and what things you need to keep personal versus what things you can throw on social media.
Drew, you’re like, “This is why I’m not online.”
Drew: Yeah, it can be really cruel. I’m an incredibly sensitive person.
And Chase, I remember you asking fans to stop posting spoilers during season 3’s filming.2 How do you decide when to call out acts like that?
Chase: When you start getting tagged in social media posts of the pivotal moments in the show....It’s about people getting Likes and views, and leaking things gets them that dopamine kick of being a part of something that other people weren’t. When you spend so much time on something, you want people to consume it in the ways that it’s supposed to be consumed, not an eight-second clip on TikTok that gives no context.
2. “If you see us outside work, we will always say hello and love to meet you all, but please...give us a little more respect in our workplace and for those people who don’t want to see the show till it’s fully out,” Chase wrote on Instagram.
Did that continue when you filmed season 4?
Chase: We had a lot of moments this season where you’re in the middle of filming a scene in public, and then there’s three people standing there yelling your character’s name or taking a video. People don’t really understand that it is a job. And it’s disrespectful to the people that are working with us, our crew.
JD: Imagine it like this—when we’re filming, it’s like we were doing a play. And if you were watching a play, and somebody was up there giving their monologue and you were screaming at them, they’d probably get a little pissy because they have to be in a very specific mode to achieve the performance they’ve honed. So we’re not so much angry at the fact that you enjoy what we’re doing. It’s just that that could have been the take that I really, really wanted to be on camera—and now it’s unusable.
Chase, Rudy, and JD, we know the Pogues have taken a lot of L’s up to this point. What advice would you give to your characters heading into season 4?3
Chase: Holy shit. If they could cash their L’s, then they’d never need gold.
Rudy: That’s a quote.
Chase: One of the things about being 32 now4 is you read the script and you’re like,“Why are you not thinking about this decision?” It’s really hard to relate to at times. And I think that’s why these guys get a little bit irritated at work with me, because I ask so many questions to understand and justify some of these actions. I would love to sit John B.’s ass down and shake him into some sense.
3. Some examples: losing possession of a treasured artifact, placing their trust in the wrong people only to be betrayed again, the list goes on.
4. John B. is 16-17 at the start of OBX season 1.
What kinds of questions are you asking on set?
Chase: Because we shoot out of sequence so often, it’s trying to figure out, “Does this track?” We just want to make sure that there’s growth in the characters. That’s the most important thing.
Have there been instances where you told the writers something didn’t make sense and they changed it as a result?
Chase: Yes. We have a lot of cohesiveness with the writers. And they really trust us with the direction of our character. Not all the time but a large chunk of it. They give us a lot of opportunities.
Rudy: It happens very often, where one of us might have a line and we go, “That’s not something I would say, would you want to take it?” And most of the time we go to the writer, like, “Is this cool?” They go, “Yes.” In the writers’ defense, when all the Pogues are together, it’s a lot of shared ping-pong matches.
Drew, I wanted to ask about your character too. Rafe is the main antagonist of the show and the greatest example of the privileged “Kooks.” But fans clearly find redeeming qualities, and even make fancams. What would you say to the many girls who say they want to “fix” Rafe?5
Chase: I fall into that category of girls who would want to fix you.
Drew: I would say, “Good luck. You really got your work cut out for you.” You’ve definitely seen Rafe very broken over the years, but I think where you find him this year is hopefully in a place of wanting to be better and to have a sense of family.
JD: I would say Rudy’s character, JJ, has a lot of that same thing, where there’s a lot of deep pain.
Drew: Rudy, you and I talked about this because you were in the mix auditioning for Rafe. At one point, we were like, “These guys are really just two sides of the same coin.” A lot of the same motivations and the freedom that we have to really do whatever.
Rudy: It was a fork for these two characters. They’re both on that trajectory and then they diverge. I’m sorry, I might make a Romeo and Juliet reference right now, but...when there’s a town with two sides, you’re going to need to pick one.
5. He’s not alone. Other villains who prompted “I can fix him!” reactions over the internet this year: Aemond Targaryen from House of the Dragon, Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen from Dune 2.
That feels like the central question of the show, in a way. And the OBX fans are so passionate. Do you all worry about how they’ll receive your other work, like your role in Queer, Drew?6
Drew: No, not really. This is an entirely different project that will have an audience of its own. Of course, I would love the Outer Banks community to see other things that I’m in and everyone to love it, but that’s not something I can control. If you try to think about it like, “The things that I want to do in the future have to align with how I’m seen by certain audiences,” you can corner yourself in. Of course, it’s in the back of your mind. There’s some concern over it. But you have to treat every project as its own island.
Chase: What Drew said was really compelling because I have lost sleep overthinking about other projects translating. Is our audience going to follow us on this journey? And the maturity to have the mindset to say “I’m not worried about that” is something that I’m still trying to get in touch with. I’m just now starting to get into a space, as I’m approaching a project coming out soon, of saying what Drew said.
Actually, I was talking to Drew the other day about Queer. We were talking about this experience, and he said, “I wish I was a little more present while I was filming it.” And I was like, how could you? It’s Luca Guadagnino and Daniel Craig, I would be shitting my pants the whole time. And he also said, “It’s done and I don’t hate the work that I did—which is a good sign—and I didn’t destroy the movie.” That’s kind of a running joke. We have a lot of self-deprecating humor in this friend group. I remember hearing that, and I was like, I can’t control the outcome. And I’ve never ever in my life had any say over any outcome. All I can do is show up when I need to show up and be really proud of the work.
6. Early reviews of Queer call out Drew’s performance as “remarkable.”
Drew, why didn’t you feel present while filming Queer?
Drew: I feel the same way when we shoot Outer Banks too—all of us have talked about this a lot. At least for me, it’s always this anxiety that surrounds you. You know your capabilities as an actor, often you feel like you fall short of those. But I think with time, you start to relax into it. It took me a couple weeks into filming Queer to go, “Okay, I can let things go at the end of the day.” As I get older, hopefully, I’ll be able to come into projects feeling that way immediately. Just go, “I need to enjoy this.” Not go home at the end of the day and start freaking out about what you’ve done.
As someone who goes into all my interviews praying that I enjoy it more than feel anxious about it, that really resonates.
Drew: It’s the same with any profession. When I was a server, I had the same thing. I would go home and be like, I was not very personable today. I forgot table three.
JD: You forgot the whole table?
Drew: Yeah. I was like, Greg got them.
Rudy: Being a server was too stressful. That’s why I was only a busser.
JD: Why I did retail.
Chase: I was constantly stressed serving tables. I can’t even talk about it right now.
Well, those days are behind you!
Rudy: It’s so dope just to see those opportunities come for all these guys. I hope the audience enjoys it. Like you said, it’s not in your control.
Chase: It’s very freeing to hear my colleagues say that you just gotta let it go.
I’m glad this has been a freeing conversation.
Chase: Yeah, it’s like fucking therapy. I’m canceling my therapy tomorrow. I’m calling Shannon and I’m telling him I’m good.
Drew: You’ve given me a lot of clarity, guys. This is helpful.
JD: We should have done this three seasons ago.
Stylist: Cassie Anderson. Chase’s groomer: Marissa Machado for Prtnrs using Stmnt. Drew’s groomer: Melissa Dezarate for A-Frame Agency using Caudalíe. JD’s groomer: Kasha Lassien for A-Frame Agency using Boy de Chanel. Rudy’s groomer: Sonia Lee for Exclusive Artists using Beau Domaine. Manicure: Emi Kudo using Kiara Sky Nails. Prop stylist: Cate Geiger Kalus. Production: Crawford & Co Productions.
Executive producers: Abbey Adkison and Sarah Lowen. Senior producer: Liesl Lar. Editors: Sarah Ng and Amanda Evans. Director of photography: Kevin Kim. AC: Molly White. Gaffer: Justin Usami. Key grip: Gerardo “Lalo” Fragoza. Sound: Griffith Snyder.
