Outer Banks Creator Says Prequel Kildare Is in the Works at Netflix

Outer Banks hasn’t even started filming its last season yet — but there’s already a prequel in the works.

Creator Jonas Pate confirmed to Port City Daily on Tuesday, December 10, that he is working on a prequel to the hit Netflix series.

“We’re looking to film it in Wilmington, [North Carolina],” Pate revealed about the show, which is named Kildare. The series is still in the early stages but would feature a whole new set of young actors and focus on the founding of each group in the show’s fictional Figure 8 town.

Fans have become quite familiar with the class divide between the Kooks and the Pogues, and the prequel will explore the origins of the ongoing feud in Kildare County. According to Pate, the plan is to have the potential show air on Netflix in addition to his Prime Video series The Runarounds, which is based off a band that made a cameo on Outer Banks.

The hit Netflix series, which debuted in 2020, follows the conflict between two groups of teenagers in a coastal North Carolina town. The social divide is introduced through the Kooks — a.k.a the wealthy residents — and the working class known as the Pogues. The search for a lost treasure causes the groups to be even more at odds while a found family forms between the friend group at the center of the show.

It was confirmed in November that Outer Banks would wrap up the stories of John B (Chase Stokes), Sarah (Madelyn Cline), Kiara (Madison Bailey), Pope (Jonathan Daviss), JJ (Rudy Pankow) and Cleo (Carlacia Grant) with a fifth and final season.

Fans had mixed reactions to the season 4 finale, which ended with JJ’s shocking death. While some viewers criticized the show’s decision to get rid of one of the main characters, executive producer Pate claimed JJ’s death was always the plan.

“It’s been kind of lurking in his DNA from the beginning. He’s really a tragic figure, and the idea of mortality, and you only have a finite window — it’s also a theme of the show,” Pate told The Hollywood Reporter in November. “It’s something John B has talked about from the first season. So believe it or not, this is something that was always sort of baked in the cake, and we just wanted to tell the story as elegantly and interestingly as possible.”

Pankow weighed in on the surprising narrative decision as well, telling Netflix’s Tudum that same month, “When I first found out JJ was gonna risk it all and not make it, I understood it. And the risks got bigger and bigger, and the stakes got higher and higher. His death really does set up the future of OBX with the question, what is worth it? And when someone that close to you is gone, how do you navigate that?”

Pate offered an update on the future of Outer Banks on Tuesday, telling Port City Daily, “One of the great joys of Outer Banks and The Runarounds is we found actors that people didn’t know. And we love doing that — to watch all the casts, such as on Outer Banks, succeed the way they have.”

He continued: “A lot of people may not realize this but the Outer Banks audience is around 15 percent youth, which means it has a diverse crowd. I think young adult content appeals to all ages because it reminds people of when they were younger. There is definitely a sense of nostalgia there.”

In addition to the prequel, Pate is excited to debut The Runarounds, which is currently in production on a second season. Based on a teleplay from Pate and David Wilcox, the fictional series follows the real band of the same name featuring William Lipton, Axel Ellis, Jeremy Yun, Zendé Murdock and Jesse Golliher.

“It’s almost unheard of,” Pate told PCD about Prime Video already renewing The Runarounds. “But they loved what they saw so far. It’s so good — we’re really proud of it. So they gave us the go-ahead to start writing; projects are green lit in multiple stages, so they have to read what we write and see if it will be pursued further.”

Outer Banks is currently streaming on Netflix. Prime Video hasn’t announced a release date for The Runarounds yet.