[Beware: Major spoilers from part two of Outer Banks season four are contained in this article.]
The fourth season of Netflix’s Outer Banks was introduced and rounded off with the character of JJ.
As per the showrunners, Rudy Pankow’s character, JJ Maybank, the most Pogue-like of all the Pogues, triggered and resolved the principal conflict of the fourth season. The teen treasure hunters from North Carolina found themselves inheriting and losing over a million dollars, exploring JJ’s family history in depth, and setting off on a journey across the Atlantic for a monumental face-off in Morocco.
The season’s finale episode, lasting nearly 90 minutes, was released on Thursday along with the second half of the ten episodes of the fourth season. The Pogues found themselves in a race across the desert of North Africa in a final showdown against the man revealed to be JJ’s biological father. In the closing scenes of the season —now officially the second-to-last of the series following Tuesday’s announcement of a fifth and final renewal— JJ is fatally stabbed by his newly discovered father.
“It was always an integral part of his character,” says showrunner Jonas Pate in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “He is a tragic character that audiences love… this was an element that was always part of the grand plan.”
Whether inevitable or not, JJ’s tragic ending is bound to send shockwaves through the show’s devoted online fanbase. “How do you think the fans are going to react — do we need to go into witness protection?” jested Pate on Wednesday, before the release of the second part of the season.
Below, Jonas Pate is joined by fellow showrunners Josh Pate and Shannon Burke as they reflect on why it was always going to be JJ, why Morocco was chosen as the setting, and how the much-loved P4L mentality will continue to influence their show moving forward.
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It’s been quite a season for JJ. Was this always part of your plan?
SHANNON BURKE We were certain from the end of season three that JJ would take center stage in season four. We didn’t know everything that was going to unfold, but we had a good idea of the major plot points. We had a vague idea of how JJ’s story would end, too — we weren’t sure if it was going to happen this season, but we more or less knew.
JOSH PATE We’ve shifted focus onto different characters over time, and we were eager to delve further into his backstory. A major aspect we developed this year was the concept of the adoptive father, the main antagonist. We had to repurpose the villains because, after the first three seasons, this year was a fresh start.
Why did he have to die?
JONAS PATE This has been a part of his character from the start. He’s truly a tragic figure, and the theme of mortality, and the fact that our time is limited — that’s also a theme of the show. It’s something that John B has been discussing since the first season. So believe it or not, this was always part of the plan, and we wanted to tell the story as elegantly and interestingly as we could.
The finale is quite something — almost 90 minutes long, all set in Morocco. From a technical point of view, how did you manage the pacing of an episode that was going to be significantly longer than what your audience is used to?
SHANNON BURKE It just naturally occurred that way. We didn’t initially set out to make this an unusually long episode. We noticed that the script was gradually getting longer and longer, and we wanted to do justice to the story. Initially, we had a shorter version, but it didn’t do justice to what was going to happen. We realized that we needed to slow the pace so that events unfolded more gradually.
JONAS PATE You also make adjustments during post-production. We knew this one was going to be long, but it turned out to be much longer than we expected once we got to post, and then we made adjustments from there.
Did Netflix express any concerns?
JONAS PATE I think they understood that we had a lot of plotlines to conclude, and that it was probably going to be a long episode. Netflix has been an exceptional partner in allowing us to tell the story that needs to be told. I think that’s evident in many of their series, like Stranger Things.
Let’s discuss the journey to Morocco. The Pogues have traveled all over the world at this point, why Morocco this time?
JONAS PATE There are many factors that contribute to that decision. Part of it is driven by the storyline, part of it by what we believe will be visually appealing, and part of it by financial considerations. But the story is the most important factor.
JOSH PATE It almost felt like Pogue hell. It’s a desert! The complete opposite of a Pogue environment. Knowing what was going to happen to JJ, we thought, “Wow, this is perfect.” Because it’s literally the last place they’d want to be. They’re so used to being around the beach and water.
That’s true, it’s certainly not Poguelandia. Did that influence your specific set design or location scouting?
JOSH PATE We definitely knew that the climax was going to take place in the desert, in the Sahara, somewhere very different from what they are used to. The city where we shot the finale, where the Pogues engage in several chase scenes through the dusty streets, required us to rewrite the entire script once we arrived in Morocco for that location, because Jonas was so excited about what we could do in that type of clay city on the hill. So that was all modified based on the location.
Let’s talk about the rest of the Pogues. This show seems different from other teen adventures in that all the main couples tend to stick together. Was that a conscious decision?
SHANNON BURKE I think we are very fond of these characters. We don’t want them to have low motives or act petty. We don’t like when they do bad things, and we appreciate it when they treat each other well.
JONAS PATE And we wanted to respect the P4L mentality. That’s really what this is about. We wanted to give them external problems, but not too many internal problems.
Sarah Cameron is expecting a baby!
JONAS PATE We didn’t want the relationship between John B and Sarah to follow the typical breakup pattern of a YA couple, but we also needed them to face conflict. And there’s always a sense of excitement you get when you have an intriguing idea that scares you a little. The first few times we discussed the idea, it was like, “Oh my God, we can’t do that!” But those are often the ideas that stick with you. It gets the creative juices flowing.
Who came up with the term “poguelet?”
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Credit: www.hollywoodreporter.com
