Julia Antonelli on Outer Banks Season 5’s Biggest Reveal: “I Took the Information About as Hard as the Viewers Did”

Julia Antonelli was absent for the show’s last two seasons, making Wheezie Cameron the breakout star of Outer Banks. She appeared in the first two seasons and showed up in only two episodes of season 3, then disappeared entirely in season 4, which included her last mention in a story where Rose wouldn’t let her take a call from Sarah.

Antonelli’s return in season 5 came unannounced from Netflix. Fans learned about it via a set photo that J. Anthony Crane uploaded on his Instagram stories. The actress called her comeback “extremely fulfilling” and said it tied up all the loose ends.

In an exclusive interview with Where Is The Buzz, Antonelli said she didn’t try to get the role back or negotiate a storyline with the show’s creators, Jonas and Josh Pate.

“I never had a direct conversation with the Pates, but I trusted they had Wheezie’s best interests in mind and would deliver a fulfilling end to her character,” Antonelli explained. “On that note, I wasn’t worried about not coming back. I figured there would be a family reunion of some kind in the last season, and as the fans have now seen, they definitely delivered on that.”

Season 5 solves the series’ longest-running mystery. Ward spiked Ellie’s wine, put Wheezie in her arms as a baby, staged the photo with wine and cocaine, and called the police to make her leave town forever, as long as she promised to never talk to her kids again. Thus, Wheezie, being a baby, was used by her father as a tool to wipe out his own mother.

Antonelli learned about this fact in the same way as the viewers.

“I learned that information when I got the scripts, and you can believe I took the information about as hard as the viewers did,” Antonelli revealed. “It was a really interesting twist that raises questions back to season 1 of the show that I’m sure people will be talking about for months after release.”

The season provides Wheezie with her most emotional scene. In episode 9, she walks in on Groff, who stands over what looks like a dead Rose, runs upstairs for a gun, shoots him from outside the door, and calls the police. This intervention saved Rose’s life.

“The script was great in informing that moment and allowed me to understand Wheezie’s mindset,” Antonelli explained. “She’s seen all the craziness often from the sidelines, but now she’s front and center and doesn’t want to pass up her moment to step up. I really think that shows how mature she’s become. She’s no longer the annoying younger sister; she’s a hero in her own right. Wheezie definitely seems to be following in her family’s footsteps, but hopefully more in her sister’s rather than Rafe or Ward.”

The finale jumps ahead about a year. Sarah gives birth in the middle of Hurricane Cassandra and marries John B in the rebuilt Chateau, where Wheezie serves as her bridesmaid, along with Ellie, in the forefront. Wheezie’s reunion with her mom happens in between. At least one critic thought that the Ellie storyline comes too late to be viewed as a full arc, with Rafe not showing up at all.

Antonelli finds the ending satisfying.

“It feels earned. Obviously there are always going to be some loose ends in a TV show. Even the greats leave some room for continuation or imagination for viewers to think about what might have happened off screen,” she said. “I think Wheezie getting a final moment with Rafe would have been nice, and I’m sure viewers would have loved to see it, but at the same time I like the fact that viewers can imagine what could have happened when the episodes were not taking place. The seasons only show snapshots of these characters’ lives, so who knows what’s happened when the cameras aren’t on them.”