Outer Banks season 3: Release date, cast, plot and news around Netflix drama

Season 3 ups the ante, following the Pogues as they abandon the titular location in favour of a search for the lost city of El Dorado in international waters.

Chase Stokes and Madelyn Cline reprise their roles as John B Routledge and Sarah Cameron respectively, while there are also a number of new faces in season 3.

Read on for everything you need to know about Outer Banks season 3 on Netflix.

Outer Banks season 3 release date: When will it come out on Netflix UK?

Outer Banks season 3 arrived on Netflix on Thursday 23rd February.

Filming on season 3 kicked off in February 2022.

Outer Banks' Instagram page posted a series of photos which features the main stars Chase Stokes (John B), Madelyn Cline (Sarah Cameron), Madison Bailey (Kiara), Jonathan Daviss (Pope), Rudy Pankow (JJ), Austin North (Topper), and Drew Starkey (Rafe Cameron) equipped with surfboards as they prepare to hit the beach.

The caption reads: "Wouldn’t wanna be stranded with anyone else. OBX3 is now in production."

A third season was confirmed back in December 2021.

In a video posted on the streaming service's official Twitter account, the stars of the show teased fans with an appearance, saying: "All the way from Poguelandia, season three baby!"

The show has been renewed for a fourth season, with the exciting news first revealed at Poguelandia, an immersive fan event re-creating the Pogues’ island paradise in Huntington Beach, with the cast gracing the stage to announce the news.

John B star Stokes told the crowd: "This is an incredible moment for all of us. To our cast and crew, thank you so much for all of your hard work."

Meanwhile, co-creators Jonas Pate, Josh Pate and Shannon Burke said in a joint statement: "Seeing Poguelandia come to life was nothing short of spectacular. The Pogues are enjoying an adventure of a lifetime and we now get to map out more twists and turns as the joyride continues into Season 4 of Outer Banks. Thank you to Netflix, our cast and the amazing fans who helped to make this happen.”

Who stars in Outer Banks season 3?

The Pogues all made it through, so we'd be surprised if we didn't see the return of the main gang – Chase Stokes (John B), Madelyn Cline (Sarah Cameron), Madison Bailey (Kiara), Jonathan Daviss (Pope), Rudy Pankow (JJ), Austin North (Topper), Charles Esten (Ward Cameron) and Drew Starkey (Rafe Cameron).

Stokes, who plays John B Routledge, previously gave Outer Banks fans a taste of what’s to come in season 3 during an interview with Elite Daily.

“Season 2 was like a death metal album," he said. “I think season 3 would be like the acoustic ballad album of the Outer Banks music world, with a lot going on.

"The writers really like to keep us on our toes, and I think that creates performances that catch you in the moment... I’ve no idea what’s going on past what we’ve shot in Barbados. I think a lot of loose ends are going to get tied up. A lot of questions will be answered. And per usual, these kids are going to get put through the wringer.”

We'll also hopefully see newer additions Elizabeth Mitchell and Carlacia Grant reprise their roles as Limbrey and Cleo respectively.

Outer Banks season 3 plot

Outer Banks season 2 packed a dramatic finale, which saw violent confrontations between several of the characters and a shock return for someone we had long thought to be dead.

Indeed, the reveal that John B's father, John Routledge (Charles Halford) is alive will have major ramifications for the direction of season three as has already been confirmed by co-creator Josh Pate.

"John B's relationship with his dad is a huge theme and having his dad back around and eventually they're going to meet back up and John B has to reconcile his idealised version of his dead dad with the reality of his alive dad," he told Entertainment Weekly. "It gives us a lot of thematic father-son stuff to work with."

Shannon Burke, a writer on the series, added: "It's going to be instrumental and maybe the spine [of season three] basically. It's obviously a gigantic revelation that's going to power a huge part of the third season."

At the end of season three, we watched as Carla travelled to meet John B's father, who said he would help track down the Shroud of Turin – a healing cloth that was thought to be hidden in the gold cross. We can expect season three to see the gang continue with this search, while John B hopes for a reconciliation with his father.

Speaking to TVLine, Chase Stokes said that he's "hoping to continue to tell the story for a couple more seasons", before adding: "It wasn't like he [Big John] was swept away by a natural disaster or whatever the case may be.

"It was his choice to go out and leave his son, and what does that look like? What does it look like when a kid comes face-to-face with a parent who’s left and chose to put him in these circumstances and has no idea what has happened in the meantime?"

That won't be the only evolving relationship though, as co-creator Shannon Burke has also teased "more room" for romance stories in the third season, set up with the arrival of the Pogues on an island they call Poguelandia.

While some fans were disappointed when a romance didn't materialise between JJ and Ki in series two, Josh Pate told Entertainment Weekly that they wanted to "tease that for the third season".

"We didn't want to do it immediately, but we definitely want to do it just because that took us by surprise, like the audience's reaction to JJ and Kiara and rooting for that romance. So we were immediately open to it, because it seems like an interesting idea to explore but we kind of left it for season three."

Burke added: "We didn't want to just dismiss Pope and Kiara either, we had built up the whole thing and we wanted to let that play out."

Meanwhile, Carlacia Grant, who plays Pogues newcomer Cleo, recently told Elle that she has lots of plans for her character in season three when it comes to romance.

"I’m really interested in seeing this whole Cleo and Pope thing happen, if it does happen," she said. "And I would love to see more of Cleo's backstory. I, personally, really want to see more of her, more of where she came from. And I want her to be more badass, definitely more badass."

Even with all this personal drama to deal with, the Pogues won't lose sight of the fortune they've been chasing all this time, with Outer Banks confirmed to remain all about that high-stakes treasure hunt, loosely inspired by real historical artefacts.

Pate added: "The treasure hunt is going to expand, and the mythology around the treasure hunt is going to evolve and get deeper. We're pretty fired up about how that mythology is going to expand in season three. We've been reading a lot of books, and we got some good things to hang it on."

Formidable villains remain hot on their heels though, with an angry Rafe determined to get his revenge on John B, who left his father seriously injured in the season two finale.

Of course, there's John B and Sarah, who unofficially married one another in season two, and according to Madelyn Cline (Sarah), season three could see the couple actually get to know one another.

"It's be really fun in season three [to get to see them] "start to truly get to know each other in a very real sense," she told Entertainment Weekly. "They're married but they actually kind of don't know a whole lot about each other."

Outer Banks season 3 trailer

While a teaser trailer for season 3 was dropped back in September 2022, fans have been excited over the brand new official trailer that has recently been released.

In it, we meet a new series villain, see Big John and John come face-to-face and hatch a plan, as well as everyone having only one adventure in mind: getting to El Dorado.

Watch below:

And you can watch the teaser trailer below also:

Outer Banks season 3 is available to stream on Netflix now. Check out our lists of the best series on Netflix and the best movies on Netflix, or see what else is on with our TV Guide and Streaming Guide.

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