Netflix’s Outer Banks centers on a group of friends in the OBX of North Carolina. But who’s really from there? After we binge-watched the show, we went on a mission to find out where the Outer Banks cast is from and where their hometowns are. Though each of the actors play born-and-raised locals of the OBX, many of them came from other states far, far away from where John B. and the Pogues boated around.
For those who don’t know, Outer Banks, which premiered on Netflix on April 15, follows a teenage boy named John Booker Routledge (John B., for short) and his friends called the Pogues in the Outer Banks, a string of barrier islands that spit off the coast of North Carolina and southeastern Virginia on the east coast of the United States. As seen in the show, boat is the mode of transportation for many of the OBX’s residents and you’ll be hard-pressed to find someone who doesn’t know how to swim. (Just look at John B.’s perfect beachy hair.) However, we regret to inform you that Outer Banks doesn’t actually film in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. As OBX Today reported, the show filmed in Charleston, South Carolina, which has seemed to upset some IRL Outer Banks residents.
Still, many of the stars are local to the area. And if Outer Banks receives a season 2 (fingers crossed), we hope that the production can move and film in a more authentic location. Find out where the cast is from ahead.
Chase Stokes (John B.)
Hometown: Annapolis, Maryland
Stokes, who plays the Pogues’ leader John B., was born in Annapolis, Maryland, before his family moved to south Florida when he was a kid. He grew up between downtown Orlando and Coco Beach in Florida, which is where he learned to surf. Though he’s not from the OBX, he still relates to the water culture down there.
“I spent a lot of time at Coco Beach, surfed there all through high school,” he told Nylon in April “I was kind of a rebel in my early high school years, we’d go down to the beach and break into the surf shop pool, use fake IDs at the Hilton and get whatever beers we could, dig holes in the beach and use our surfboards as roofs, and sit under there. You know, be underage drinking some beers. John B and myself definitely have some similarities and that lifestyle.
Stokes also didn’t have to learn much when it came to driving boats and scuba diving. “I grew up on the water, so I knew how to surf and knew how to drive boats,” Stokes, who now lives in Los Angeles, told People. “Learning to scuba dive, that was something I learned in a weekend in order to get the shots done. It was incredible.”
Madelyn Cline (Sarah Cameron)
Hometown: Charleston, South Carolina
Cline, who plays John B.’s love interest Sarah, was a local hire. She was born and raised in Charleston, South Carolina, where Outer Banks was filmed. “I think personally, I fell back in love with where I’m from, Charleston,” she told V Magazine. “Shooting a show and a love story in that whole ecosystem with the most amazing people, our cast and our crew, I fell back in love with that area because I was so in love with the project.” Cline now lives in Los Angeles.
Madison Bailey (Kiara “Kie”)
Hometown: Kernersville, North Carolina
Madison, who plays Kiara, the only female member of the Pogues, is another local hire. She’s from Kernersville, a small town in North Carolina. In an interview with the Charlotte Observer, Bailey said that she heard from almost everyone in her town when she was cast. “[I’ve] gotten a message from every person I can think of,” she told the Winston-Salem Journal in April. “I’ve gotten so much love from the 336 and so many people.”
In an interview with Seventeen, Bailey talked about how she never thought she would film a show in her home state. “I never imagined I’d be filming a show about North Carolina. During our hiatus, we went up to Asheville, and I got to show them my side of the state and how absolutely gorgeous it is,” she said. “Obviously, the story is fiction, but the atmosphere felt real. Being outside and fishing and going out on the water is what growing up looked like for me.
Jonathan Daviss (Pope)
Hometown: Conroe, Texas
Daviss, who plays John B.’s best friend Pope and the smartest of the Pogues, isn’t from the Carolinas, but he is from the south. According to Express, he was raised in Conroe, Texas, and played for the Conroe High School football team. Though he wasn’t from the same state as the ret of his cast, Daviss told Flaunt that the group was still able to relate to each other.
“I feel like we always kind of had it. We are all genuine friends,” he said. “Maddy says a lot that every time you see us laughing in the show it’s genuine laughter. We crack each other up. We could go through the series and I could tell you every inside joke that just so happened to slip through. We still hang out even after shooting. We are all at each other’s houses.
Rudy Pankow (JJ)
Hometown: Ketchikan, Alaska
Pankow, who plays John B.’s best friend and bad boy JJ, is one of the furthest cast members from the OBX. He was raised in Ketchikan, Alaska, where he lived throughout high school and ran track and played soccer for Ketchikan High School. When he graduated when he was 18, he moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting.
In an interview with Seventeen, Pankow talked about what he learned from JJ. “JJ is so self-sufficient, and I think I am as well. Paying attention to others and how you affect them is something that I learned as JJ. It was like, Oh, you can’t just always be doing your own thing or else you hurt people when you only do your own thing.”” he said. “But then, there’s a certain balance to it because if you only are out there seeing how you’re affecting others, you’re really not focused on how you affect yourself. JJ taught me how to balance both worlds of not only acting as JJ, but also balancing work and not work. If it’s cherishing your family time or being in a relationship at some point, there’s a balance to everything.”
Austin North (Topper)
Hometown: Cincinnati, Ohio
North, who plays John B.’s rival Topper and Sarah’s ex-boyfriend, was born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, according to his IMDB. When he was older, his family moved to Atlanta before they relocated to Los Angeles for his acting career. Some fans may recognize him from Disney Channel’s I Didn’t Do It. “I was living in Atlanta and my sister signed up for an open call audition. My mom basically made me go with her,” he told Relate Magazine in 20145. “I did it, then we did a talent showcase and they flew Hollywood agents in. I got a bunch of callbacks so we came to LA, so my sister and I could take meetings. I got my first agent then. We decided to give it a try and my parents were eventually willing to move out here, which I am super grateful for. I did a lot of classes and got a manager and theatrical agent and eventually started booking guest star roles, then landed my dream job on “I Didn’t Do It.”