J. Anthony Crane talks about what to expect from Chandler Groff in Outer Banks Season 5.

Outer Banks has more story to tell with the villainous Chandler Groff in Season 5.

First introduced in Season 4 of Netflix’s teen action drama, Chandler Groff, played by J. Anthony Crane, is Outer Banks‘ new antagonist whose complicated past holds surprising ties to the Pogues, particularly JJ Maybank.

Since Season 4 ended with the surviving Pogues vowing to take revenge on Groff, his role in the series’ final season is guaranteed, and may reveal more about Outer Banks‘ most ruthless villain yet.

Outer Banks Star Talks Chandler Groff’s Season 5 Storyline

In an exclusive interview with The Direct, Outer Banks star J. Anthony Crane offered fans an idea of what to expect from Groff in Season 5, particularly in terms of his complex past, saying, “I think we’ll probably get a chance this year to even explore more of that history.”

After JJ Maybank discovers Chandler Groff is his biological father in Season 4, he learns Groff was a Pogue from the Cut, just like him.

But after marrying the wealthy Larissa Genrette, he killed her before leaving JJ to be raised by Luke Maybank and embarked on a mysterious, criminal life abroad pursuing treasure.

When he later returns to Kildare Island, he murders his father-in-law (and other members of the Season 4 cast) before ultimately killing JJ.

In discussing how Outer Banks‘ Chandler Groff became such a villain, Crane credits his character’s familiar past, explaining how he’s also a product of the show’s signature “class struggle” which turned original baddie Ward Cameron “into such a monster and to do such monstrous things.”

J. Anthony Crane further noted how Chandler found “it didn’t bother him” to leave JJ with Luke Maybank and murder his wife, but it “turned him ugly over time” and “that’s where he’s at” coming into Season 5:

“He’s found that it didn’t bother him from an early age to do some of the things that the did, letting his child go, obviously what he did to his wife. I think that turned him ugly over time. You just become a monster over time. It’s like Dorian Gray’s painting after awhile. There’s just nothing left that’s pretty inside. So I think that’s where he’s at. I think we’ll probably get a chance this year to even explore more of that history.”

Since Season 4 ended with Chandler Groff taking Blackbeard’s Blue Crown from JJ and then killing him out of pure spite (could he still return for Season 5?), fans are likely going to be as dismissive about the character’s motives as the remaining Pogues.

But that doesn’t mean Groff’s checkered past, or his Season 5 future, won’t impact the Pogues as they set out from Morocco to hunt down Crane’s villain.

As for a little clue, the actor teased he recorded six or seven locations for the Season 4 finale so “I could hopefully say the city they would hopefully be shooting in…:”

“I do know they had me record some six or seven cities so that in the final episode I could hopefully say the city they would hopefully be shooting in… I think I heard them say something about me on the run to start. I don’t think you get a timelapse or anything like that. I think they hit the ground running.”

Seasons 1-4 of Outer Banks are streaming now on Netflix; Season 5 is expected to debut in 2026.