Here’s what we know.
Outer Banks just finished its fourth season with a very big death. The show, which follows the lives of John B. (Chase Stokes), Sarah (Madelyn Cline), Kiara (Madison Bailey), JJ (Rudy Pankow), Pope (Jonathan Daviss), and Cleo (Carlacia Grant), or the Pogues as they hunt for treasure, fail, hunt for treasure again and so on killed off one of the main characters, JJ Maybanks at the end of Episode 10 of Season 4. And though fans aren’t convinced the death is going to stick, if it does, the reason why might be a rumored feud with a costar.
The final episode of the show, the one with JJ’s death, saw the Pogues wow revenge as the season drew to a close. And with Outer Banks set to return for a fifth and final season, there’s been speculation about whether Pankow could really return, what pursuing the blue crown means for the Pogues, and how the show even moves forward without one of its main characters.
But the speculation about Pankow’s return comes with a lot of rumblings about what exactly went on behind the scenes and why he was written off in the first place. Though co-creator Shannon Burke sounded pretty final in an interview with Cosmopolitan, saying about JJ, “We were pretty sure early on that this was where it was going. We thought that one of the Pogues would die almost in the very beginning in season 1, and we were pretty sure it was going to be JJ. We just weren’t sure when we were going to play that card. We knew this would be JJ’s season—this is JJ’s story. And we realized pretty early on, like, Okay, we’re going to play this card now,” fans believe it wasn’t a writing decision that led to Pankow’s exit.
Is there any truth to the rumors that there’s a cast feud? What happened between with Rudy Pankow and Madison Bailey? We explain the Outer Banks drama.
What happened with Rudy Pankow and Madison Bailey?
Rumors indicate the whole feud started sometime in June of last year, as the cast was filming Season 4 in Charleston, South Carolina. According to those rumors something happened during a cast dinner that included Madison Bailey, Rudy Pankow, and Pankow’s girlfriend, Elaine Siemek. After the dinner, Bailey and her girlfriend Mariah Linney, who was not in attendance, both unfollowed Pankow’s girlfriend.
Siemek, meanwhile, unfollowed them both in return. Pankow similarly unfollowed Linney, but continued to follow his co-star, Bailey. She continued to follow him as well.
“So, apparently sometime between today and yesterday, the cast [of Outer Banks] had dinner,” a TikTok user broke it down in a viral video. “And that dinner didn’t go well.”
What exactly happened is unknown, but Pankow and Bailey were reportedly friends in the first few seasons of the show. Their relationship seemed to deteriorate as fans started shipping their characters, Kiara and JJ, and then them—which was very uncomfortable for their real-life partners. Fans speculate they’ve kept their distance in public since to avoid the scrutiny.
But speculation reached fever pitch after fans pointed out a particular scene during Season 4 that makes it seem like Pankow and Bailey aren’t even filming together, with one fan saying, “The camera cuts. Making it so obvious she was laying on that stunt double” and another one adding, “This is just insane, the fact that Rudy and Madison refused to record it together and they had to use stunt double just shows their unprofessionalism to their work. And they weren’t even supposed to be doing anything huge in that scene, just hugging a bit.”
If this is true, then it points to Pankow possibly leaving because his relationship with Bailey has deteriorated. Neither of them has said anything in public about the feud, but with Pankow now seemingly done with Outer Banks, let us hope we can get to the bottom of what happened, and if it leaves any possibility for JJ Maybanks to ever return.
