The actor talks about his character’s unexpected arc, the Season 4 Part One finale, and where things are headed for Part Two.

Between shipwreck treasure-dives, murder cover-ups, and love triangles, still moments on Outer Banks, the Netflix series about teenage treasure hunters operating off the shores of North Carolina, are hard to come by. So when filming for the second half of Season Four moved to the western coast of Morocco, Rudy Pankow, who plays the daredevil JJ, seized the opportunity for a quick jaunt to the Sahara desert. Awed by the sand dunes that resembled snowy hilltops and the sun setting behind undulating mounds that stretched for miles, he calls the visit “one of the most magical experiences of my life.”

Much like JJ this season, 27-year-old Pankow hasn’t had much time to catch his breath. On Oct. 6, the Alaska-born actor wrapped his theater debut as Romeo in Romeo and Juliet at the American Repertory Theater in Boston. He is among a crop of young Hollywood stars who performed in the Shakespeare classic this year: Tom Holland wrapped his run as Romeo at a London theater in August and Heartstopper’s Kit Connor kick-started his turn on Broadway last month.

“I would love to ask Tom, I would love to ask Kit so many Romeo questions,” Pankow says, calling Shakespeare the gold standard of theater. “What about this part, what did you think? What was the first thought [you had] when you had to say, ‘Oh, blessed, blessed night?’”

Earlier this year, Pankow played a Harvard dropout turned oil hand in the feel-good film Accidental Texan, and he set off for gold (again) in the 2022 film Uncharted alongside Mark Wahlberg and Holland. But it’s his role on Outer Banks, as part of blue-collar crew of modern-day buccaneers who call themselves the Pogues — a group which includes ringleader John B (Chase Stokes), JJ’s love interest Kiara (Madison Bailey), and brainiac Pope (Jonathan Daviss) — that’s made him a favorite with fans.

Part One of Season Four has been pivotal for Pankow’s character. As JJ inches closer to the bounty, he makes a personal discovery that’s far more significant: In the cliffhanger final episode (warning: spoiler ahead), he learns that his abusive father, Luke (played by Gary Weeks), is not his biological dad. Instead, a man named Chandler Groff (J. Anthony Crane), introduced in the first episode of this fourth season, is his blood father. The twist shocked even Pankow himself.

Here, he talks about his character’s surprising arc, playing an abuse survivor, and where JJ is headed in Season Four Part Two, which drops Nov. 7.

JJ is complex: a little hot-headed, a little irrational, a little bit of a gambler. What drew you to the character?

I love how he masks so much with humor. I think a lot of people do that, because it’s protective and it’s very effective, and I connected with that immediately.

In what ways are you using humor to mask other emotions?

I, myself, sometimes do the same, but at the same time it comes from a place of caring and JJ cares a lot. That’s what I see in JJ the most is he’s a very caring guy.

JJ suffers physical abuse at the hands of his father, Luke, who has gambling and drinking addictions. How do you travel to those dark, traumatic places as an actor? 

It’s a responsibility. [I] talk to people — obviously going to keep that private, but I think you have a huge responsibility when you’re playing something as dark as that, whether it’s substance abuse, whether it’s physical abuse. As an artist, you don’t want to phone any of that in.

It’s something that people need to look up to and have hope [about], and, “OK, I can get through this.” So you dig deep and try to portray it as raw as you possibly can.

In the final moments of Episode Five, JJ chases Luke up a lighthouse to evade the cops and get more intel on the hidden treasure. That’s also the moment where we learn Luke is not JJ’s biological father. How challenging was that scene to film?

The scene was hard because it was such a shock, and we had to do it on a time [crunch]. I want to say we had two hours that day to really get this scene completely fleshed out, and Gary and I, luckily, were prepared to bring it that day.

We were in a very tough location, with a sunset that we had to get. All the crew had to get all the way on top of this lighthouse. We shot most of it with a drone. You can’t hear because [of] the wind and the drone, but then you have to play this huge news. Both of us were just honed in on one another. We would go into the lighthouse, run the scene, then go out, run it, film it, go back in. It was really technically just difficult.

Was there a lot running up and down the lighthouse?
I did it four or five times from the bottom to the top for a wide shot that they probably used.

How did you react when you found out about that scene?

I was shocked. I called Gary immediately, and I was like, “Hey, so this is happening,” and he hadn’t gotten the script yet, so we talked through it. So, we were like, “OK, what does this mean?” We actually came to the conclusion [that] it doesn’t only explain a lot about JJ, it actually explains a lot about Luke and his behavior. [He acts] like he’s doing JJ a favor throughout his entire life.

This is a pretty big deal for your character. It’s an ensemble cast, but you may be a lead character at this moment.

I talked to the writers a little bit about JJ’s storyline being very submerged into the plot line and through line of what the Pogues are going for. That’s the beautiful thing about this series, is that the writers give [each] one of the characters their season. John B obviously shines in Season One, Pope shines in Season Two…

At the start of this season, the Pogues cash in their last bounty and JJ gambles it away. Does JJ have potential to change in Season Four, Part Two, and if so, how?

Absolutely, I think he has potential to change. Every character each season has this bridge, like, “OK, are they going to go across it?” and JJ has a big one this year. It’s starting with [his more solidified relationship with] Kiara, and that’s a new dynamic between the two of them. But then also the father and Groff showing up, and him losing his identity with Luke. [We’re] trying to figure out where he stands now. Even though it’s so jarring, there is a huge opportunity for JJ to grow.