Madelyn Cline discusses Sarah’s complicated relationship with Rafe and coping with grief. She also weighs in on Sarah’s relationship with John B.
Madison Bailey talks about Kiara’s sense of justice, potential reconciliation with her parents, and working with Rudy Pankow on the relationship between JJ and Kiara.
The Pogues are back, and we’re back in the OBX! Season 4 Part 1 of Outer Banks just debuted on Netflix, and wow, is it a chaotic ride. From the peaceful life after building their beloved Poguelandia to fighting underwater against mercenaries, the Pogues quickly go from a relatively domestic life after the events of El Dorado to a new adventure seeking out the treasure of Blackbeard. Despite surviving the likes of Carlos Singh (Andy McQueen) and Ward Cameron (Charles Esten), you’d think our band of misfits would have it a bit easier, but after a series of poor financial choices and bad luck leads them to needing more money, the Pogues go back to what they’re best at. This time there’s pirates and curses, but what remains true for the show is that it continues to have some shocking plot twists. By the time Part 1 is over, we’re already clamoring for Part 2.
We spoke with Madelyn Cline and Madison Bailey about Season 4 Part 1 to dig into some of the major developments of the season as well as look deeper into their characters’ interactions with the other people in their lives. Cline talked specifically about Sarah’s complicated relationship with her brother Rafe (Drew Starkey), discussing if there’s potential for reconciliation one day. She also touches on the loss of Sarah’s father after Season 3 and how Sarah is coping with it. Cline spoke about working with Chase Stokes on cultivating the relationship between Sarah and John B. Bailey talked about the possibility for Kiara to make up with her parents — who we last saw kicking her out after she escaped Kitty Hawk thanks to JJ (Rudy Pankow). Bailey also touched on Kiara’s unique sense of justice in the show, something we see come out fully in Episode 4 “The Swell” when facing off against the Kooks. Finally, Bailey mentions JJ and Kiara’s relationship and working out the details of the relationship with Pankow.
Will Sarah’s Relationship With Rafe Ever Change for the Better After Ward’s Death?
“With Sarah’s family situation being so strained, she yearns for her family…”
COLLIDER: One of the show’s most interesting relationships is between Sarah and Rafe. They obviously have some pretty awful moments together, and Sarah is well within her rights to hate him, but do you think there’s any part of her that wants to reconcile or forgive him?
MADELYN CLINE: I think right now, forgiveness is tough. But I do think that there is a part of her deep down that does see, I mean, he is ultimately her brother the same way that she looked at Ward. That’s her family. She does see someone in there who is not all bad or hopes that there is someone in there who isn’t all bad. So, I think, of course, with Sarah’s family situation being so strained, she yearns for her family, but I think she also thrives and loves so deeply, her newfound family.
Definitely. In Season 4, we see Rafe kind of struggling with the loss of Ward. Do you think Sarah is going through the same process, or do you think she’s kind of dealt with grief in a different manner as compared to her brother?
CLINE: I think they’re definitely going through it in different ways. With Sarah, she has John B to lean on because they’ve both lost their dads very tragically in a very short amount of time, so I think they have each other to lean on. I think that was probably very different to Rafe’s trying to reconcile losing the family member he was closest with. So, I’m sure it’s quite different.
Madelyn Cline on Working With Chase Stokes on John B and Sarah
“We get to see that love that they had for one another in Season 1 back but in a very stable environment…”
Speaking about Sarah and John B’s relationship together, I think they probably have the most stable domestic relationship in this show. There are moments when you guys are discussing your future together. How has it been growing that relationship throughout these seasons with these two characters and working with Chase on that?
CLINE: It’s been great, honestly. As far as relationships go, ours has been the longest-running, so I think it makes a lot of sense to see our relationship, at least by Season 4… We’ve been through so much. We’ve been through these adventures, we have been through breakups, we’ve fought, we’ve made up, we’ve broken up. We’ve been through all of these things that do happen in relationships, and we see that, ultimately, what brings them back together is their love for one another. And this season, we were just really excited to see them have a little bit of that normal — they get to almost date again. We get to see that love that they had for one another in Season 1 back but in a very stable environment, which is so nice to do. Of course, it’s been amazing working with Chase because we care so deeply about these characters in this relationship because, besides the Pogues chemistry, that’s kind of what started it all.
Will Kiara Ever Make Up With Her Parents After Kitty Hawk?
“I think that maybe this season is a little bit of loving from a distance.”
Madison, speaking about these relationships, I think Kiara has one of her most important relationships other than with the Pogues with her parents, and it’s been kind of on the rocks since she escaped from Kitty Hawk, and there’s all these things that are happening in her life. Do you think that there’s a chance she’ll make up with them, and do you think they’ll ever be able to accept the Pogues, specifically JJ?
MADISON BAILEY: Yeah, I think there’s definitely room for Kiara to make up with them. I think sending her away via kidnapping is pretty tough to forgive, especially fresh off of it, so I think that maybe this season is a little bit of loving from a distance. But I think, ultimately, Kiara will understand that every decision that they’ve made has been out of love, and I think you can only fault people so much for things like that. They’re her parents, and she will definitely come around and reconnect that.
Bailey Digs Into Kiara’s Sense of Justice
“She’s not mad at picking a fight when it’s warranted.”
Kiara really stands out for me in this group of people because she has a really interesting sense of justice. Even though she’s grown up with the Pogues, she kind of sees the injustice that I think it faces, and she’s outraged by it. Whereas everybody else is kind of just like, “Yeah, that’s life.” Where do you think that sense of justice comes from for her?
BAILEY: Gee, I wonder. [Laughs] I think that’s Madison in Kiara’s ear a little bit. Kiara reminds me a lot of myself when I was young, and sometimes when you feel an injustice, I mean, as an adult, you go about things a different way, but as a kid, you stomp around. I think she’s a very, very passionate person, and she really cares about humanity in a very specific way. I love that she just always stands her ground. She’s not mad at picking a fight when it’s warranted.
It’s always warranted. Whenever she says stuff, I’m like, “Yes, why is nobody pointing this out?”
BAILEY: [Laughs] I agree.
CLINE: Someone said it earlier, too — Kiara is the voice of the audience. A lot of times, you say what we’re all thinking when we watch it, which I think is really, really important.
Bailey Wasn’t Surprised When JJ and Kiara Got Together
“These characters, I feel like, mirror each other in a lot of ways.”
I love JJ and Kiara together. I loved watching that relationship grow throughout the span of this show. Could you talk about working with Rudy on that relationship, and were you surprised when this show took that direction for these characters?
BAILEY: I definitely wasn’t surprised. It always made sense to me. These characters, I feel like, mirror each other in a lot of ways. There’s a lot of overlap. Kiara is the most similar to JJ’s character in a lot of ways, and I think for me and Rudy, we both wanted it to feel lived in, in a different way, like how you would when you fall for a friend. The friendship’s at the forefront, and both of our characters have different relationships to physical touch and physical intimacy. We’re both pretty different from John B and Sarah’s relationship, which is more passionate, a little more loving. I think we both are two very independent characters who love their space, but love coexisting, and I think that we both understood that and what this relationship looks like for our characters together.
Who Are the Best Parents of the OBX, and Who Are the Worst?
Who do you think is the worst parent in Outer Banks? Everybody is a terrible parent, but who is the worst parent for you, and which of the Pogues would be the best parent?
BAILEY: Pope has the best both mom and dad, hands down. Worst parent? JJ.
CLINE: Yeah.
BAILEY: Gosh, he got the shortest end of the stick when it comes to family.
CLINE: Yeah, I would agree with that.
