The world of Outer Banks could continue after the original series ends, with creators Josh Pate (Outer Banks, Surface), Jonas Pate (Outer Banks, The Runarounds), and Shannon Burke (Outer Banks, Syriana) developing a prequel for Netflix. According to Deadline, the prequel, often referred to as Kildare, would take place 20 years before Outer Banks and explore how Kildare Island became divided between the working-class Pogues and wealthy Kooks.
The creators have been considering the concept for several years, but the project recently entered formal development at Netflix. “We’re working on the script,” Josh Pate said. “We’re working hard on it with our awesome partners from Netflix, and we’re just trying to get all of it as good as it can be.”
The original series began with that class divide already firmly established. John B, played by Chase Stokes (Tell Me Your Secrets, Uglies), led a group of Pogues that included Pope, played by Jonathan Daviss (Do Revenge, Revolution), and JJ, played by Rudy Pankow (Uncharted, Chocolate Lizards).
Their story also involved Sarah, played by Madelyn Cline (Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, I Know What You Did Last Summer), a Kook whose romance with John B crossed Kildare’s social divide.
Deadline notes the prequel would instead examine how that divide began. “It really is the story of how the island split,” Pate said. “How it split into the haves and have-nots, how the Kooks and the Pogues started.”
Burke explained that the series would tell that story through both familiar and new characters. Because it takes place 20 years earlier, however, the familiar faces would come from the parents’ generation.
That gives the creators several established family histories to explore. Netflix has not commented on the project, and the prequel remains in development rather than receiving an official series order.
The potential expansion comes as Outer Banks reaches its conclusion. The fifth and final season premieres Aug. 20, ending the original show’s five-season run while its creators work on a possible return to Kildare Island two decades earlier.
