In the upcoming fourth season of Netflix’s YA drama Outer Banks — Part 1 of which is set to hit the streamer on Oct. 10 — fans of the series have an exciting bit of storytelling to look forward to.
The ending of the third season back in early 2023 saw the show do a time-jump forward, with 18 months having passed since the Pogues found the gold in El Dorado. It was a victory to savor that was, at the same time, also complicated by the deaths of Ward and Big John. Outer Banks co-creators Shannon Burke and Josh Pate have previously explained in interviews that they wanted to give the Pogues a “win,” albeit a complicated one. They had to have accomplished something, in other words, so that it wasn’t all for nothing. Thus, that complicated Season 3 ending.
So, where to take the story next in Season 4, a first teaser of which you can check out below?
Here’s what Netflix has to say about the upcoming season, which will be split into two five-episode halves (on Oct. 10 and Nov. 7): “Following last season’s 18-month flash-forward showing Wes Genrette’s (David Jensen) proposal for the Pogues to find Blackbeard’s treasure, Season 4 takes us back in time to the lead-up to that moment.
“After finding the gold at El Dorado, the Pogues return to the OBX and commit to having a ‘normal’ life. They’ve built themselves a new safe haven, officially dubbed ‘Poguelandia 2.0,’ where they live together and run a fairly successful bait, tackle, and charter tour shop. But after some financial setbacks, John B, Sarah, Kiara, JJ, Pope, and Cleo take Wes up on his offer, and are drawn back into the ‘G’ game for a whole new adventure.”
The new season promises a major ramping up of the stakes, with our Outer Banks favorites seriously in over their heads and new enemies racing to beat them to the treasure. As they weigh their collective past, present, and future, problems continue to mount. Are they willing to risk everything? Has it all been worth it? “You want the crazy jumping[-off-ships] stuff, but you want an emotional realism,” Pate told Netflix’s TUDUM.
“Taking stock and letting the impact of things really reverberate is part of keeping it emotionally real.”
