Exclusive Clip: J.J. Confronts the Kooks in ‘Outer Banks’ Season 2

The last time we visited the sunny shores of the Outer Banks, the Pogues had succeeded in finding the treasure of the Royal Merchant, but their excitement was short lived. Not only was John B (Chase Stokes) quickly framed for murder by his girlfriend’s dad (Charles Esten), but then he and Sarah (Madelyn Cline) appeared to drown at sea during a tropical storm. In this exclusive clip from Season 2, which debuts Friday, July 30, things aren’t going so well for the Pogues who are on dry land either, as J.J. confronts the Kooks about what really happened, with disastrous results.

To find out what happens to our favorite treasure-hunting teens in Season 2, check out the clip and then read our exclusive interview with Outer Banks co-creator and executive producer Jonas Pate to find out what’s in store for everyone when the show returns.

The animosity between the Pogues and the Kooks seems to be getting worse after everything that happened in Season 1. How does that town divide affect the show moving forward in Season 2?

Well, they never liked each other to start, and now there’s some real bad blood between the two of them since John B. has been wrongly accused of a murder that the Kooks committed. So I think that the stakes have gone up. It’s not just a high school tiff anymore. That’s the big takeaway.

J.J., Pope, and Kiara all believe that John B and Sarah are dead after the tropical storm in Season 1. Where are they when the show returns? How are they processing their grief?

We wanted to do our best to honor the real emotions that kids would go through if they thought their best friends had passed away. They were such a tight group that we just thought they would have their own ceremony, rather than the formal one. So, we just tried to lean into that, and we knew that’s how the season was going to start because we tried to just pick it up right where we left off. We just did our best to honor how you would actually feel if that happened.

Is it safe to assume that they’re going to try to clear John B’s name?

For sure. I think all they have left at that point is the ability to try to exonerate their friend. So that’s how they feel like they can honor him the best.

I know you might not want to say specifically, but how long should fans expect to wait for them to find out their friends are actually alive?

Let’s just say eventually they come back together. I’m not gonna say when. I’ll let you just watch it. But that was an endlessly debated question when we were writing the second season, about how long we would wait before we got them back together.

Last season John B accused Ward of killing his dad and framing him for the murder of Sheriff Peterkin, and now J.J. has accused Rafe. This family’s really slippery, but how long can they realistically get away with this now that two people have publicly accused them of murder?

Not much longer, and that’s part of what Season 2 is about, honestly. The Camerons can’t keep eluding justice. At a certain point the noose is going to tighten. And that’s sort of what drives a lot of the plot of the second season.

And speaking of Rafe, there is clearly something going on with him. What can you say about his mental state and what we’re going to see explored in Season 2?

We’ve never been explicit about saying what psychiatric condition he really has, but we’ve always just assumed that he’s so blinded by his desperation to win his father’s approval, and he’s a bit of an anti-social character so he’s not a very empathetic person, so he’ll go to lengths much further than most people. And once he’s done it, he gets comfortable with it. So we wanted this to be the season where he really prepares to become the villain in the show. We’ve got to pass the bad guy torch.

The last we saw John B and Sarah were headed for the Bahamas, which we know is where the gold is. How worried should we be about them? What kind of dangers await them when they get there?

Significantly worried. They fall in with some unsavory local characters that bring almost immediate complications. It’s not just a beach vacation they wind up taking.

The first season was centered around finding the gold. Obviously they don’t have it right now, but is that the end of the Royal Merchant storyline? Are there going to be some new mysteries and adventures in Season 2?

There are some new mysteries and adventures but it’s all related to that same mythology. You realize in Season 2 that you don’t know all of the mythology associated with that treasure. We’re going to be peeling back the layers of the onion, not just in Season 2, but potential future seasons as well.

It’s hard to believe anyone had time for romance in Season 1 with everything that was going on, but John B and Sarah found each other, and Kiara kissed Pope after he confessed his feelings. Where are both of those relationships going in Season 2?

We love teen soap, and romance is a huge part of the show. And it’s funny that you bring that up because whenever we have these tense, action-y scenes it’s always tricky to slow down enough to have a more emotional and connected romantic scene. But we tried pretty hard to architect that in there. All good on-screen romances need conflict and need obstacles, so we tried to continue that. We knew who we wanted to get together and we tried to put as many obstacles in the way as we could so it was eventually satisfying at the end.

If you had to describe Season 2 in three words, what would they be?

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. Does that count as three? I’ll go with that and… it’s more expansive, it’s bigger than Season 1. And I would say… thrilling.

Outer Banks Season 2 launches July 30 on Netflix.