🤐 SPOILER ALERT 🤐

If you’ve seen Outer Banks, you know there’s no shortage of fast-paced thrills, near misses and dangerous encounters in this series, whose highly anticipated Season 3 launches Feb. 23. John B (Chase Stokes) and his tight-knit crew of Pogues are seemingly always on the run or making shocking new discoveries — and a lot of that action centers on the teens’ ongoing hunt for some extremely valuable treasure. 

Can’t keep track of all of the twists and turns around their quest for the legendary loot? (We don’t blame you!) Read on for a handy synopsis of everything you need to know so far about this seriously epic treasure hunt. You don’t need to decipher any cryptic riddles to know there are some pretty big spoilers ahead — consider yourself warned!

A ship that’s lost at sea, a compass soon to see

When the show starts, John B’s dad, Big John (Charles Halford), is missing. Before he disappeared — seemingly without a trace — he was researching the Royal Merchant, a legendary shipwreck that sank near the Outer Banks, North Carolina, in the 19th century. (Islanders have been trying to find the ship for years because it’s rumored that the historic wreck contains gold bars worth $400 million.) Toward the end of Season 1, we find out that Big John had been working with wealthy island resident Ward Cameron (Charles Esten) to track down the treasure. When Big John tells Ward that he knows where the treasure is located — but wants a larger percentage of the gold — Ward attacks and seemingly kills him. After being thrown overboard, Big John washes ashore on an island where he manages to remain conscious just long enough to carve the mysterious word Redfield onto an antique compass. That compass is later discovered by John B and a whole new world of adventure opens up for the Pogues.

Jackson Lee Davis/Netflix

A grave with a surprise, a package for John’s eyes

After pulling the compass from a sunken boat and discovering that some (heavily armed) strangers are also after the vintage heirloom, John B and best friends JJ (Rudy Pankow), Pope (Jonathan Daviss) and Kiara (Madison Bailey) set off to find out what the in-demand object is all about. Their first attempt ends in failure after a disastrous trip to the nearby Redfield Lighthouse. It’s only once they surrender the compass to the local police (who also seem to be dead set on acquiring the device) that John B realizes his great-great-grandmother’s maiden name was also Redfield. The Pogues then visit her grave and discover a package addressed to John B from his dad. 

A shipwreck finally found, gold hidden in the ground

The package from the grave contains more information on the Royal Merchant — including a ship manifest and coordinates that mark the wreck’s location. The Pogues take a boat out to the spot and discover the remains of the ship, but — alas — there’s no gold! At the same time, John B is starting a burgeoning romance with Ward’s daughter, Sarah Cameron (Madelyn Cline). When John B visits the Cameron family’s home, Tannyhill Plantation, he learns about the house’s mysterious original owner Denmark Tanny. He recognizes the name from the Royal Merchant manifest and soon deduces that Denmark Tanny was a formerly enslaved person who survived the shipwreck and kept the gold. (Turns out the ship manifest was the big discovery in the package, not the coordinates.) John B and Sarah go on a romantic excursion to visit the archives in Chapel Hill and read some letters written by Denmark Tanny. They find one that leads them to a well under a creepy local house. Inside the well, they find — you guessed it — the gold.

Jackson Lee Davis/Netflix

One treasure that is lost, another that’s a cross

Even though they find the gold, the Pogues don’t celebrate for long. Sarah’s dastardly dad overhears them discussing the treasure and steals it from them. He then loads it onto a private plane and flies it out to the Bahamas. Not ones to give up easily, John B and Sarah head off to Nassau to steal the gold back. (Families are complicated, OK?) With the help of some Bahamian accomplices, they’re almost able to pull off the big heist but aren’t quite able to get away with the gold before they’re forced to evade the authorities and set sail back to the US. 

Meanwhile, Pope is summoned by a wealthy Charleston woman named Carla Limbrey (Elizabeth Mitchell). He visits her mansion and learns that she’s looking for a mysterious key that’s tied to Pope’s family. (Guess what? Pope’s a direct descendent of Denmark Tanny!) The key is said to lead to the Cross of Santo Domingo, an even more valuable artifact that was also aboard the Royal Merchant when it sank. The cross was a gift from New Spain to the Spanish King, and it was thought to have been lost off the coast of Bermuda in 1829. Not only is it worth more than half a billion dollars, it’s also said to contain the Garment of the Savior, a holy relic that can perform miracles and heal the sick. Win, win. 

Jackson Lee Davis/Netflix

A clue that’s in a key, a spyglass in a tree

Thanks to a symbol that Carla shows Pope, he’s able to find the mysterious key in a container hidden in the ceiling of his great-grandmother’s house. (Yep, read that again slowly.) In a certain light, the key projects the words: “The path to the tomb begins in the Island Room.” Carla steals the key from the Pogues and soon shows up at Tannyhill Plantation demanding to see the Island Room. The walls of the room contain hidden clues that lead everyone to an angel oak on the other side of the island. (Hey, what’s a treasure hunt without obscure clues and some hard work?) Carla, her half-brother, Renfield (Jesse C. Boyd), and Sarah’s not-so-great brother, Rafe (Drew Starkey), get to the tree first and find no more clues. Those determined Pogues, however, find a spyglass hidden in the tree with the inscription: “You’ve come this far. Do not falter. The cross is on the Freedman’s altar.” That leads them to a nearby church where they find the Cross of Santo Domingo hidden in the building’s beams. Now we’re getting somewhere!

Jackson Lee Davis/Netflix

A relic on the water, a garment-hunting plotter 

Before the Pogues are able to make off with the gold cross, it’s stolen by Rafe and Renfield who take it to Carla. (How many times will treasure be stolen from these kids?!) Carla’s devastated and furious that the cross no longer contains the Garment of the Savior, which was the real reason she wanted it since she’s battling a terminal illness. In the heat of her rage, she shoots and kills Renfield. Rafe then drives away with the cross himself, leaving Carla behind where she’s fallen on the ground. The Camerons load the cross onto a barge. Hot in pursuit, the Pogues secretly stow away on the ship. Once again, the teens try to escape with both the treasure and their lives but only make it out with the latter, when they’re forced to flee in a lifeboat and leave the cross behind on the ship. By Season 2’s end, the Pogues are regrouping on an island they’ve dubbed Poguelandia and making plans to steal back both the gold bars and the Cross of Santo Domingo. Meanwhile, Carla visits John B’s dad (surprise — he’s still alive!) in Barbados. Big John tells Carla he knows where the missing garment is, and so the treasure hunt continues!

A city made of gold, a lost object foretold

When Season 3 begins, Rafe has the cross and is looking for a very wealthy buyer who loves two things: gold and not asking too many questions. Luckily for him, an antiques dealer tells him he has a client who is interested in buying the priceless gold object. That client is a rich man on the island of Barbados named Carlos Singh. When Rafe arrives at Singh’s place, he discovers that Kiara is already there. (She was kidnapped by Singh’s men after the Pogues crash-landed on Barbados in the plane that rescued them from Poguelandia.) Singh tells Rafe and Kiara that 450 years ago a Spanish soldier came out of the Orinoco Basin in South America with a few gold beads and spoke of a city of gold called El Dorado. He tells Kiara and Rafe they’re going to help him complete his quest to find this city, by searching for a diary that will lead him there. Before the two of them escape Singh’s place, Kiara snaps a quick pic of a painting of El Dorado that Singh has hanging in his house.

A diary tucked away, a signpost leads the way

Wait for it… the diary that Singh is looking for is Denmark Tanny’s diary which reveals that a ship named San Jose found the lost city of El Dorado. After Big John is reunited with John B in Barbados, he tells his son that a signpost could lead them to the mythical gold city. It’s tied to a stone object that father and son retrieve from an antiques dealer on the island. In order to find the lost city of gold, they need the other half of the object and also must locate a key to translate it. After some further digging, Big John and John B deduce that the other half of the stone object is buried in the grave of a priest who was sailing on the Royal Merchant when it wrecked, but the gravesite was excavated and all items were donated to the Charleston Museum. Not letting that stop them, they manage to break into the museum’s collection storage and find the other half of the stone monument. 

Jackson Lee Davis/Netflix

Treasure found inside a cave, actions that are very brave

Big John and John B bring the stone object to an old colleague of John B’s, Professor Sowell. The prof tells them it’s the Gnomon of Solana and if it’s put in the right place at the right time, it will give directions to El Dorado. Unfortunately, Singh chooses that exact moment to kill the professor, steal the gnomon and kidnap Big John to translate it for him. Meanwhile, Pope finds a letter to Denmark Tanny’s daughter that contains a translation key for the object’s symbols. With the help of the Cameron family’s private plane, the Pogues all fly to the Orinoco Basin to save Big John. They give him the translation key and Big John, John B and Sarah make it to the Solana site deep in the jungle where they place the gnomon. Once illuminated by moonlight, the gnomon gives them the clues they need to finally find the lost city of El Dorado hidden deep inside a cave. The treasure hunt to end all treasure hunts has finally come to an end. (For now.)

Outer Banks Season 3 is out now.

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