From the outset of Outer Banks, it’s clear that John B. Routledge is a natural-born leader. Always ready to jump into action, he guides his friends and fellow Pogues on treasure hunts aplenty, gets them out of trouble on the regular, and knows how to deliver one hell of a rallying speech. But Chase Stokes, who portrays John B throughout the show’s five seasons, was initially hesitant to step into a leading role.

Before his big break on Outer Banks, Stokes had only booked a couple other small jobs, but was fully committed to trying to make it as an actor. That determination to pursue his art had left him, as he says, “broke broke.” Still, when a casting director reached out to ask him to read for the part of John B, it didn’t feel like the right fit. “I should not have been passing on auditions,” Stokes admits on an episode of Outer Banks: The Official Podcast, but this one took some convincing.

After what he insists was a “butchered” attempt to read for the role of Topper, he finally gave John B a try. “I did my initial audition against, like, an AC unit, and it was the scene from Season 1 where John B and Sarah are in the bottom of the boat, and he’s talking about whale noises,” he says. That emotionally stirring moment — when the Pogue’s frontman exposes his “truth,” and thereby forms the foundation of one of the show’s most significant romantic relationships — sealed the deal. “I got a call Easter Sunday, got on a red-eye, flew to Charleston, and never went back.” 

When we meet John B in Season 1, he’s a bit down and out. A poor kid whose father has gone missing, he’s left to fend for himself. And, though he confidently commands respect from his tight-knit group of friends, he couldn’t survive without their help. The same was true for Stokes during those initial days of filming. When he couldn’t afford rent that first month in South Carolina, Rudy Pankow, who plays John B’s hot-headed but fiercely loyal pal JJ Maybank, lent him money, and he even borrowed clothes from the wardrobe department. Stokes also quickly developed a close bond with Madison Bailey, who plays the dependable and principled Kiara Carrera. “She’s one of those people that, no matter what the circumstance is, no matter where you are in life, she’s going to pick up the phone and show up. She's been that way from the very beginning,” Stokes says of Bailey. “The way that Kie shows up for John B is such an honest interpretation of mine and Madison’s relationship.”

Like a boat from the dock, Season 1 of Outer Banks launched on April 15, 2020 — a little over a month after the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic — and quickly made waves. Because they were so proud of what they had created and because of the singular nature of that particular period of time, Stokes and his fellow cast members began going live on social media as a way to interact directly with their audience. “When we started to realize that people were invested in it, we just wanted to know their thoughts. Like, what made you like John B? What made you like Pope? We would bring people on and talk to random strangers,” says Stokes. “It just felt like, in a time when community was not allowed, we were creating this world where people felt accepted and appreciated. During a time when everybody felt disconnected from their people, they felt connected to these characters.”

That deep connection that the fans maintained with the OBX characters over seven years instilled in each of the cast members a sense of obligation to ensure that the Pogues’ story ended in a satisfying way. When production officially wrapped in December 2025, Stokes felt hopeful that they had fulfilled their duty. “The audience has ridden this wave with us, literally and figuratively, all the way to the shore,” says Stokes. And it wasn’t just the fans that buoyed them on this journey. “Throughout the entirety of the seven years, we stuck together,” he says of his costars. “To get to the end of the road and still look at each other with so much respect, admiration, and appreciation is just the most heartwarming and fulfilling feeling.”

And when the final day on set came around, Stokes says that after a chaotic day of shooting stunts and explosions, “it just all came to a close as the sun was setting, in true typical Outer Banks fashion.” As the first AD went down the call sheet, announcing who had wrapped person by person, Stokes was in disbelief. “It felt surreal,” he says. “We were all just standing there with our arms around each other.” 

And then, the actor hung up John B’s iconic Converse sneakers for the very last time. “It was the most proud I’d been in my life.”

Watch all five seasons of Outer Banks on Netflix now.

Outer Banks Season 5: Watch the Pogues Reflect on Their Last Day on Set