This article contains spoilers for Outer Banks.Netflix’sOuter Bankswas released in 2020 during the height of the global pandemic, with viewers tuning into the teen-drama to get away from the real world. Right away, the show was attractive due to the hazy orange coloring the show displayed throughout each episode, making it seem even more like summer in North Carolina. The show is essentially a rivalry between the Pogues—middle class working individuals—and the Kooks, wealthy silver spoon individuals.
It turns out to be much more than that, as the series explores murders, drugs, toxic family dynamics, and loyalty through friends. The latest season satisfied fans' hunger for action through heists, kidnappings, and a father brought back from the dead. The intermediary time between Season 3 and Season 4 allows fans time to revisit their favorite moments of the show—as well as their favorite characters.
That being said, here is a list of every main character inOuter Banks, ranked.
Updated April 20th, 2023: If you’re a fan of the Outer Banks series then you’ll be happy to know this article has been updated byGrayson Uckelewith additional content.
Coming in last on this list isRafe Cameron(Drew Starkey). Early on in Season 1, viewers are made aware that he has an addiction to cocaine, and not only that, he’s selling it to his friends and also anyone who could possibly want to buy from him. Though others have claimed that Rafe is the ultimate villain of the series, Starkey himself says his character is “[not] some bad guyjust for the sake of making a bad guy. He’s constantly at a push-and-pull with what he’s going through internally and even though he makes some pretty insanely stupid decisions, he struggles with those.”
Rafe gets mixed up heavy with drugs and the lifestyle of owing a dangerous person a lot of money, eventually shooting and killing the beloved Sheriff Peterkin. Rafe has a dependency on drugs and is often mistreated by the people around him. There’s no excuse for his behavior, but it’s clear that his life has led him into doing some pretty terrible things. This reasoning becomes more clear in the Season 3.
When Warren experiences an epiphany that brings him to salvation, Rafe is not as enlightened. Rafe takes over the family’s assets while his father is presumed dead, and, when given the out to take the higher road, Rafe chooses to continue down the path of one of the series' antagonists.
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Topper(Austin North) is thebest friend of Rafe Cameron and the ex-boyfriend of Sarah Cameron. Topper’s character is pretty static throughout the series, not giving the audience much to go on development-wise, as he proves time and time again that he’s a reckless Pogue-hating individual. In the first episode of the first season, viewers watch as he becomes frustrated and genuinely mad when Sarah stops them from being intimate, yelling at her for being a tease instead of understanding that she wasn’t ready yet. Topper is entitled, wealthy, and is often manipulated by Rafe into doing things that harm the Pogues.
Although Topper redeems himself at the beginning of the latest season, when he acts as the getaway driver for the Pogues in their mission to steal back Season 2’s golden cross. He provides refuge for Sarah after her argument with John B, but it seems his good favor doesn’t come from the heart, it’s contingent on Sarah’s romantic interest in him. After he peeps through John B’s window and finds his enemyembracing his ex-flame, he commits attempted murder by lighting the Château on fire while the Pogues are inside.
Ironically enough, the main character and narrator of this series is placed towards the tail-end of the list. Often calledJohn Binstead of just John, his character has a lot of trauma that doesn’t necessarily get unpacked throughout this series. John B’s father was thought to be swept away and killed by Ward Cameron throughout the first two seasons, and it was extremely devastating for him to find that out.
Chase Stokes portrays John B as an extremely low maintenance character, riding through life on good vibes and good times, and almost getting killed several times before he even turns eighteen. He falls in love with Sarah, and they havea whirlwind of a romance, but he still keeps his guard up with it comes to Kook activities with her, not fully trusting that side, but because this is a cute teen show, they get married as teenagers while on the run. It’s unquestioned that John B’s loyalties lie with his friends above anything else.
However, John B’s character demise begins at the end of Season 2, with the boat explosion in which Ward and Rafe are believed to be dead. When Sarah is, understandably, distraught because of the explosion, John B rejoices. This pivotal moment distances couple, and it’s a division that follows the couple into the third season.
Big John sows distrust between John B and Sarah due to her Kook background. What’s worse than his party to Big John’s greedy, borderline evil antics, is thatJohn B begins to doubt his own “wife.“His suspicion leads to a blow-out fight, and Sarah’s eventual fling with Topper. Although John B has a lot on his plate, he completely disregards his counterpart’s struggles and lack of support system. He even seems to relish in her dependency on him, lying to her about his father’s plans and then throwing her situation back in her face when she rightfully questions his lies.
Sarah Cameron(Madelyn Cline) is thedefinition of good-girl-turned-badbecause she wants some excitement in her life. After breaking up with Topper and seemingly falling for John B after he steals her father’s scuba gear, Sarah turns herself into a Pogue after being a Kook for so long.
Many bad things happen to Sarah after she starts to distance herself from the lifestyle her brother and previous friends have, such as getting shot and also being slapped in the face by her own father, Ward Cameron. Ward isjust as unhinged as Rafe is, so it’s not completely surprising that he would go to such an extreme level with Sarah, but the scene was still unsettling.
Sarah proves that she has more to her than meets the eye multiple times throughout the series and is able to gain the trust of the Pogues, not only in the first season, but the third as well. When Big John questions her loyalties,she proves him wrongby solving a number of puzzles that lead to El Dorado, the city of lost gold.
Her rocky beginnings, unfortunate family, and unexpected triste with Topper in Season 3, the Outer Banks fan base find her to be a character that has been fully redeemed.
Kiara(Madison Bailey) has an interesting storyline, since she was once a Kook, but changed her ways at a young age to hang out with the Pogues, and become one of them. Her father is a wealthy business owner in the Outer Banks, but she doesn’t conform to that lifestyle, often seen ditching her responsibilities to go do something reckless with her boys.
As the only girl in the group, all the boys like her to some extent, though JJ and Pope are infatuated more than John B. Although John B and Kiara have a small and seemingly confusing scene in Season 1, it’s never talked about again once Sarah joins the group. Kiara is fierce and protective over her friends, often coddling JJ when he proves that he needs someone to lean on.
It’s easy to say thatPope(Jonathan Daviss) is the only Pogue that has his head entirely on his shoulders throughout the series. Viewers come to learn that he takes his education very seriously, stressing that he can’t go off on huge adventures becausehis scholarship to a prestigious collegerides on that fact. He’s deeply in love with Kiara, even though he sees JJ is also infatuated with her, but that doesn’t stop him from pursuing her.
Pope is often the Pogue that Rafe takes his anger out on, getting physically assaulted by Rafe and Topper one day while delivering groceries to a wealthy customer. Above everything, Pope clearly loves John B and JJ a lot, as well as Kiara; the four of them having a connection that can’t be broken, even whenit’s believed that John B is deadat the end of Season 1.
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JJ(Rudy Pankow) has the roughest life out of all of his friends. His father is an alcoholic and abusive towards him, leading him to be extremely reckless with his decisions that could genuinely get him killed. Out of all the pairs on this Netflix show, it’s clear thatJJ and John B are the closest, evident in the pure elation on JJ’s face when theyliterallyrun into each other after it was declared that John B was dead. JJ is wild and definitely the comedic relief through this angsty drama-filled show, giving the audience some much-needed laughs after darker scenes.
