They were like, "See you back here in a week and a half for boat lessons and swim lessons and ukulele lessons at the time." And I was like, "Is now a good time to tell you I don't really swim?"

[both laugh]

["Left Hand Free" by alt-J playing] I want to talk about your experience. Let's take it back. Finding out that you got the role of Pope, what was that moment like for you? I mean, it was like… I can't describe the mix of excitement, relief, joy. I'd achieved a dream that I'd been working on for so long in my life.

Um, I really enjoyed this character.

Mm. And I felt like coming out of the last audition, I was like, "I don't know who they're going to get for him, but if they find anybody better, that guy deserves it, whoever that dude is."

You felt you crushed it?

I felt I crushed it.

Good. As you did. 'Cause you got it.

Mmhmm.

[chuckles] Right.

[laughs] It worked. When people first started recognizing you on the street, what was that like? It was COVID.

[laughs] Yeah, which was kind of odd 'cause you guys were inside. Then you step out on the street, and people are recognizing you. Right, well, I'm wearing a mask in Ralph's, grabbing stuff. I have a hat on. That seems to be everybody's recollection. They were at Ralph's. Right, yeah, you're at… 'cause the two places you can go, right?

Yeah. The grocery store…

Outside or Ralph's. These girls come up to me like, "You're on Outer Banks." And I was like, "You watch Outer Banks?" Like, I didn't think anybody in real life watched Outer Banks. Well, you know, it's COVID. So I'm inside. I'm seeing it on the phone and everything. And this stuff is going on socials, but it's like, that was kind of new. Yeah. So like going out in person and having somebody like recognize you was also just new to me. I don't know why they were looking at me. I was like, "I'm not stealing nothing. I promise." Believe it or not, I never watched the show when I auditioned for it. Carlacia, that's a sin.

That is despicable.

It was. It was a sin. I'm embarrassed to even say that I lived that much under a rock. You missed out on a really great group activity that we all did together. Where the heck was I?! It was 2020. I couldn't have been doing much.

We were at home, watching Outer Banks.

I don't understand it. I'm still just, like, "What the heck was I watching?"

[both laugh]

Besides this thing. Um, but I… I didn't watch it. Um, so I got the audition. I was like, "Oh, this character is super cool."

She's twirling a knife. Um, put it down.

[laughs] And it was like, "Ah, I got other ones." And I picked it back up, and I was like, "Wow, this character is really, really cool." Tried to like sort of record it. It wasn't really working the way I wanted to rework it. And the first time I did it, I did it in an English accent. And then I was like, "No, this would be better." In a Caribbean accent. So I rerecorded it in a Caribbean accent. And I did it a bunch of times. Like a bunch of times. And we sent it in, and we didn't hear anything. And then I was like, "Wow, that was really good."

[both laugh] I did the Caribbean accent and everything. No, I literally was like, "That felt like this character." And then a month later, they were still looking for the character, and we sent in the same tape again. And then two days later, I got a chemistry read. And I chemistry read, and then the rest was history. I want to dive into the beginning of Outer Banks for you. The audition process and hearing that you almost passed on Outer Banks, which is crazy. I can't imagine a different John B. I mean, the story is so interesting 'cause I should not have been passing on auditions.

[laughs]

Like, "Okay, I'm an actor now." Stupid.

Mmhmm. I have no income. I've gone broke. I'm on unemployment. And I got the audition from a casting director on the Southeast. And she had booked me on my first job ever. And she was like, "You need to read for this." I'm like, "No, I'm okay." And then I went in for Topper 'cause three weeks later I was like, "Okay, I need to actually audition." "I'm not gonna do the main guy, but I'll do the side-quest character." And I read for Topper. I butchered the audition. And so… I apologized in the room.

"I'm so sorry."

You said sorry?

Yeah.

What did they say back to you? They were just like, "It's okay. You're not getting the job." And then she reached out again, like, "You need to read for this." She sent me the pilot, read for it, auditioned. I did my initial audition against like an AC unit. It was the scene from Season One where John B. and Sarah are in the boat. Talking about whale noises. I got a call Easter Sunday, got on a red-eye, flew to Charleston, and like never went back. I was borrowing clothes from the wardrobe department. I couldn't pay the first month of rent. So Rudy had to spot me 'cause I like… Everything was just happening so fast. I truly was like, "If this doesn't work, I don't know if I can do this." Like, I don't know if I can sustain the consistency of feeling the high-lows of this industry. So it was like a very serendipitous universe wink that this all worked out. When did it first hit you that Outer Banks had become something way bigger than you could have imagined? Once the world opened up and we were starting to get out and experience, I think, the reach in person. I think that's when it… so it was kind of a delayed reaction.

'Cause you saw the followers go up.

Yes.

The Instagram followers, all of that.

Yeah. But then getting that first in-person reaction...

Yeah.

Do you remember that moment? Yeah, I was masked, and I was grocery shopping at Ralph's in Hollywood, and someone came up. And I was like, "How do you…?"

The eyes.

How do you see me? How do you know? And then I think there were some times where I'd go on a hike or something. There would be people talking amongst themselves, and then a look, and then just absolute silence. Like walking up to a group of people you know are talking about you.

They go silent when you walk up.

Yeah. You're like, "They were talking about me." And totally, and I was like, "Oh…" It wasn't that they loved you. They were obsessed with you. And so… but I had no idea what that was yet.

Yeah. Right.

So I was like immediately anxious. What was the audition process like for you? I mean, it was pretty simple. It was self tape, like most auditions. I sent it out into the world. And then I got an email saying that they were doing a resubmission. Mm-hmm. And they said, "Do not submit anyone who's already auditioned." And I was like, "Ah, okay. Well, I already taped for it." Obviously they didn't like it, it's fine.

My agent was like, "No, tape again."

[host] Right. "I don't want them to be like, 'This girl again.'" "'Yeah, we didn't like it, right?'"

[host] She's begging.

Yeah, she's begging.

[laughs]

Uh... But I literally… I was just like looking at the characters. Like, if not me, like who is gonna play this girl? Like, this is me. Like, I re-taped it. I didn't send the same audition. I just re-taped it, sent it. And then I got a callback within the week and then flew to Charleston. And I thought it was just auditioning again. Then they told me that day that I booked it. And they were like, "See you back here in a week and a half." For boat lessons and swim lessons and ukulele lessons at the time. And I was like, "Is now a good time to tell you I don't really swim?" Like, is now… Or should I have said that? Right, like, "I'm actually gonna save it when I show up on set for the first day." I mean, at the time, there was no… It was hustling mode. There was nothing that was gonna stop me. Like, you could have told me I had to really, really learn how to surf. And I would have figured it out.

[bright music playing]