Each season, the teens of Outer Banks find themselves getting into serious trouble while uncovering outlandish secrets linked to their small North Carolina barrier island town. And Season 3 will be no exception. When the series returns on Feb. 23, look for the mysteries to run even more profound as the stakes get truly out of control.
Table of Contents
John B Routledge Chase Stokes
John B. Routledge grew up in the Cut, the poorest area of the south side of the Outer Banks. When his father goes missing while trying to find a famous shipwreck, the Royal Merchant, John B., decides to enlist his best friends to help him search for the gold. Fellow Pogues JJ, Pope, and Kiara are happy to go on an adventure. But when Sarah Cameron gets involved, everything changes. The two quickly fall in love. Ward frames his daughter’s new beau for the sheriff’s murder, and the couple has to escape to the Bahamas.
Sarah Cameron Madelyn Cline
Sarah Cameron grew up in the wealthiest part of the north side of the Outer Banks — on Tanneyhill Plantation. At the start of Season 1, she lives there with her dad, Ward, her brother, Rafe, her sister, Wheezie, and her stepmother, Rose. When we first meet Sarah, she’s also dating a fellow north sider, or Kook, Topper. But when she gets swept up in a mystery alongside John B and the other Pogues (the local name for the people from the island’s south side), she tries to turn away from her privileged life. When John B is framed for murder by her father and brother, Sarah escapes with him to the Bahamas.
JJ Maybank Rudy Pankow
JJ Maybank has been best friends with John B since the third grade — and he’d do just about anything for him. Always down for an adventure (and a way to get away from home and his alcoholic father), JJ doesn’t need much convincing to look for the Royal Merchant in Season 1. His hot temper sometimes makes the situation worse, but he’s fiercely loyal to his friends. During Season 2, he helps his father escape the island to avoid prison — making the Pogues the only people he has left. At the end of Season 2, he’s stranded with his friends on the island they call Poguelandia.
Kiara “Kie” Carrera Madison Bailey
She’s a Pogue — but an adopted one. Kiara “Kie” Carrera lives with her parents in Figure 8, where her mom was born and raised. Her dad was born into a less privileged background but now owns a very successful restaurant. By all accounts, Kie should be a Kook — however, as a self-proclaimed socialist, she claims to hate the wealth and attitude that comes with her dad’s capitalist lifestyle. Kie is best friends with John B, JJ, and Pope, who accept her as a fellow Pogue. And Sarah were best friends in ninth grade before they had a falling-out — but they reconcile in Season 1 shortly after Sarah and John B begin dating. Kie has an on-again, off-again relationship with Pope throughout the first two seasons. She’s also on Poguelandia at the end of Season 2.
Pope Heyward Jonathan Daviss
A Pogue through and through, Pope Heyward would do anything for his best friends John B, JJ, and Kiara. He’s the most cautious group member — and also the most educated. From the start of the series, it’s clear that he has a crush on Kie, and they have a fling. The treasure hunt of Season 2 revolves around Denmark Tanny, whom Pope learns is his ancestor. Denmark Tanny was the only survivor aboard the Royal Merchant. During Season 2, Pope has to uncover his family’s history and relics before someone else does. At the end of the season, Pope finds himself potentially marooned on Poguelandia with his friends.
Cleo Carlacia Grant
Cleo is 1 introduced in Season 2 when she meets Sarah and John B aboard a cargo ship bound for her home — Nassau, Bahamas. She plans to help turn the two over as a crew member, but Sarah offers her family’s gold instead. The trouble is, it’s in the Camerons’ Nassau estate, and Sarah is supposed to be dead, so they must steal it. The heist ultimately fails, but Cleo helps them escape Nassau nonetheless.
Rafe Cameron Drew Starkey
While his sister Sarah eschews her family’s wealth and the sneaky ways they obtained it, Rafe Cameron fully embraces it. He parties a little too hard —he gets kicked out of the family estate after he steals from his dad to pay his drug dealer. Toward the end of Season 1, he tries to earn his father’s approval by shooting the sheriff. Oddly, it works, and Ward lets him move back in. Throughout Season 2, he continues to do anything allegedly for his father, even trying to strangle Sarah because she sides with John B over their family.
Ward Cameron Charles Esten
Sarah’s father, Ward, may live in one of the wealthiest neighborhoods of the Outer Banks, but he didn’t start there. In fact, like John B, he grew up in the Cut, but Ward went on to become a real estate developer. Although he initially comes off as a friendly, nice guy — even going so far as adopting John B when his father disappears — it doesn’t take long for his manipulative, evil ways to show through. He knows all about the treasure of the Royal Merchant and is willing to kill anyone who gets in his way of finding it, including John B’s father.
Rose Cameron Caroline Arapoglou
Rose is married to Ward and stepmother to Rafe, Sarah, and Wheezie. Apart from that, we don’t know much about her — except that she’s willing to scheme and connive just as much as her husband.
Arapoglou has had guest appearances in Atlanta, The Resident, The Walking Dead, and Stranger Things. Like Stokes, she was also in Dr. Bird’s Advice for Sad Poets.
Topper Thornton Austin North
Topper is a Kook — and proud of it. He basks in his wealth and hates the Pogues. At the start of the series, he’s dating Sarah. Even when she breaks up with him to date (and later marry) John B, Topper won’t let her go. He loves her deeply, even going so far as to help her escape with John B in Season 1 and to attack best friend Rafe in Season 2 to save her.
Carla Limbrey Elizabeth Mitchell
Carla is introduced in Season 2 as a wealthy treasure seeker from Charleston, South Carolina. She has her sights set on the Pope and his family, specifically the Denmark Key. She explains to him how an enslaved person named Denmark Tanny survived the Royal Merchant shipwreck and wanted to buy his wife and child’s freedom with what he saved from the ship. Instead, he was killed by Carla’s ancestors.
John “Big John” Routledge Charles Halford
Nine months before the series premiere, Big John goes missing while trying to find the Royal Merchant. His disappearance causes his son, John B, to begin his treasure hunt. We learn throughout Season 1 that Big John was looking for the wrecked ship with Ward Cameron, who injured him and left him for dead — but he didn’t die. At the end of Season 2, we discover that he was rescued and has been recovering in Barbados all this time.
Carlos Singh Andy McQueen
A Caribbean don, Carlos joins the cast of Outer Banks in Season 3. Despite being an extremely wealthy man living in Barbados, Carlos isn’t content with the riches he’s already amassed and is on a quest to find the city of gold, El Dorado. He’s pretty ruthless — not to mention dangerous — in his pursuit of the treasure.
Anna Carrera Samantha Soule
Kiara’s mother, Anna, was born and raised as a Kook. She disapproves of her daughter’s relationship with Pogues John B, JJ, and Pope — so she forbids Kiara from seeing them (to little avail).
In addition to roles in numerous off-Broadway productions, Soule has been featured in Godless, City on a Hill, and The Queen’s Gambit.
Mike Carrera Marland Burke
Mike is married to Anna and father to Kiara. He’s a successful chef and operates a busy restaurant called the Wreck. He has a better relationship with Kie, who sometimes works with him at the eatery. Mike will occasionally give her friends free food.
Bobby Heyward E. Roger Mitchell
Pope’s father, Bobby Heyward, is known around the island simply as Heyward. He’s a fishmonger who owns the seafood shop serving Pogues and Kooks on the island. Like the Carreras, he’s not a fan of Pope hanging out with John B and JJ. He’s a descendant of Denmark Tanny, a key figure in the treasure hunt of Season 2.
