Madelyn Cline Says 'Outer Banks' Feels 'Strange' After Rudy Pankow's Exit

Madelyn Cline teased the shift on the Outer Banks set as the cast continues to film the fifth and final season without Rudy Pankow.

“There’s a part of the dynamic that isn’t there anymore,” Cline, 27, told Extra TV on Monday, July 14, about the hit Netflix series. “But also, you know, we’re all just happy to be there.”

Cline acknowledged that it was “definitely strange” not having Pankow, 27, around “because we shot four seasons with him.”

“The camaraderie, the chemistry is all amazing,” she said about filming season 5. “I don’t think we take a single second of it for granted. I cry at least two times a week. Happy tears.”

Cline concluded: “It’s the end of a big, big chapter of my life. But yes, it’s bittersweet, it’s emotional, and we’re all really, really happy to be back.”

Outer Banks, which debuted in 2020, follows the conflict between two groups of teenagers in a coastal North Carolina town. The social divide is introduced with the wealthy residents (a.k.a. the Kooks) and the working class (the Pogues).

Season 5 is currently filming and is expected to follow the aftermath of JJ’s shocking death. The show originally received backlash when Pankow’s departure was confirmed despite the writing team claiming it was always the plan to kill off the fan-favorite character.

“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,” executive producer Jonas Pate told The Hollywood Reporter in November 2024. “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.”

After JJ’s onscreen death, the show’s creators explained their decision to kill off a Pogue.

“The overarching plan was to begin with just some kids who wanted to have a good time all the time, and take them on a whole journey,” Shannon Burke told Deadline in November 2024. “One of them was going to end up dying, and pretty early on, we knew that was going to be JJ, he’s the most reckless. He is also the most beloved and, in one way, the most sacrificing and the most risk-taking. And this was going to be JJ’s year.”

He continued: “The kids, they’re getting older. We wanted to begin in a place of innocence and then go to a place that at least one point to go is really dark for them, and then have them come out of it. That’s the overarching plan for the show. It was always JJ that was going to be, we just weren’t sure how we were going to play it.”

Viewers subsequently started to question whether Pankow’s exit came as a result of a rumored rift between him and the cast, which includes John B (Chase Stokes), Sarah (Cline), Kiara (Madison Bailey), Pope (Jonathan Daviss), JJ (Pankow) and Cleo (Carlacia Grant). Pankow, for his part, has said that he thinks JJ’s death was meant to move the story along.

“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,” he explained to Netflix’s Tudum that same month. “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?”

Outer Banks is currently streaming on Netflix.