Ranking ‘Outer Banks’ Plot Twists, From Least to Most Shocking
Now that the Outer Banks Season 5 trailer has officially dropped, fans are already speculating what the beloved Twinkie blowing up could mean, why the Pogues are in jail, and who is it that Groff (J. Anthony Crane) is throwing overboard? Each season has come with new twists and turns keeping us on our toes, so we decided to take a look back at some of the plot twists we have seen in the past four seasons. From real deaths to fake deaths, we have ranked 12 of the plot twists from the last shocking reveals to the most jaw-dropping of them all. Warning: The following post contains major spoilers for all four seasons of Outer Banks.
John B and Sarah are alive
The reveal at the end of Season 1 that John B and Sarah survived their boat capsizing during the storm wasn’t too shocking. No one believed that they would kill off two main characters in sSeason 1 especially when the plot revolved heavily around them. While it may have been the most unbelievable thing to occur, it was the least shocking.
Sarah’s pregnancy
Many fans speculated that Sarah (Madelyn Cline) was pregnant in Season 4 based on little hints dropped throughout episodes: the random biological clock comment from John B, the moment of Sarah waving at a child, Sarah staring at a painting of a mother in a church, and the boys telling John B randomly that he’s nothing like his dad. This made us all believe that Sarah was pregnant. Well, we were right! We are excited to see what happens this season with Sarah, John B, and their unborn baby.
Pogues lose the gold… again
From the twist of Ward stealing the gold in Season 1, which was not shocking after learning that he “killed” Big John, it was common for the Pogues to get close to the gold, the cross, or the Blue Crown, and have it taken from them (not counting El Dorado). As JJ said, “They [kooks] always win.” It got predictable each season that the Pogues were never going to successfully get their hands on whatever treasure they were hunting that season, but who knows? Maybe this season the Pogues will finally succeed!
Ward sacrifices himself to save Sarah
After consistently disappointing us and Sarah, Ward Cameron finally did one thing right, and it was the last thing he ever did. When one of Singh’s men tried to shoot Sarah, Ward jumped in front of her and saved her life. For the second time in her life, Sarah saw Ward die, but this time, John B comforted her. Ward, who consistently chose himself over Sarah, stunned us all with his selfless act — in fact, it was so selfless that even Rafe didn’t believe Sarah at first.
Ward faked his death
Ward blowing up his boat while he was on it, while his daughter watched, shocked us all. What was even more shocking? Him having planned the explosion and faked his death to clear Rafe’s name. This was a shocking reveal to not only Sarah and the Pogues but to the audience, especially since we had just seen “My Druthers” go up in flames and watched his family mourn his death. While highly unrealistic that Ward scuba dived away from the explosion, it made for a great plot twist in the Season 2 finale.
Pope is a descendant of Denmark Tanny
A seemingly random plot that ended up leading to a lot of character development for Pope (Jonathan Daviss) in the future was the reveal that he was a descendant of Denmark Tanny. Yep, he is “a royal” as the Pogues say. After hearing so much about Denmark in Season 1, it was shocking to learn that Pope is related to him, making things a lot more personal for him. There were a couple of hints in the beginning of Season 2, with Carla Limbrey (Elizabeth Mitchell) asking Pope to come to Charleston alone and insisting he has the “key” she needs to get the cross. But the reveal itself was surprising to us and even Pope’s family.
Rafe is a Pogue
After murdering Sheriff Peterkin in cold blood in front of Sarah and trying to kill Sarah multiple times by choking, drowning, and even shooting her,SRafe and Sarah are not only on good terms, but Rafe is a Pogue! In the season 4 finale, we saw these two have a heart-to-heart conversation, ending with Rafe working with the Pogues rather than against them. We have now also seen in the Season 5 trailer that Rafe is in jail with the Pogues, meaning they are definitely working together like they did last season. Season 1 Rafe wouldn’t believe it!
Ward “killed” Big John
Big John was revealed to have been “killed” by Ward in Season 1. This was stunning to learn since viewers had begun to believe, alongside John B, that his father was alive. It was especially painful, too, considering Ward had taken John B under his wing after his dad disappeared. While Ward’s shadiness had been hinted at throughout the season, as with him having the compass and eavesdropping on John B and Sarah talking about the gold, it was not suspected that he killed Big John. This reveal is what spawned the long-lasting feud between John B and Ward.
Big John is alive
Up to the Season 2 finale, we had suffered the emotional whiplash of Big John (Charles Halford) being dead, alive, dead, and alive again. The reveal of Big John being alive was satisfying, as many believed he had never died to begin with. It was so wild for Big John to be alive after all this time that even the Pogues didn’t believe John B (Chase Stokes) until they saw him for themselves. Not only did we learn that Big John has been alive this whole time, but now he wants to see John B. This left us with unanswered questions and set up Season 3 perfectly.
Rafe kills Peterkin
Going back to Season 1, when Ward (Charles Esten) was being arrested by Sheriff Peterkin (Adina Porter), she pointed the gun at him, and a shot rang out, making us all think Peterkin shot Ward, but no.
Peterkin was shot by none other than Rafe (Drew Starkey), who could only rationalize his actions by saying, “I saved you, Dad.” This twist shocked not only viewers but the other Pogues as well. We all thought Rafe was just another Kook beating up Pogues; we never thought he would become a killer just to get his dad’s attention.
JJ’s real rather
Since Season 1, fans have speculated that JJ and Sarah (Madelyn Cline) were actually related and that Rose (Caroline Arapoglou) was JJ’s mom. So no one expected Luke (Gary Weeks) not to be JJ’s biological father.
However, not only is JJ’s father not Luke, but his real father is a kook, and his mother, Larissa Generette (Tommi Rose), is a descendant of the man who killed Blackbeard. This was a shocking cliffhanger for part one of Season 4 that no one saw coming.
JJ Maybank’s death
Many fans theorized that JJ (Rudy Pankow) would die in Season 4, but no one fully believed it because JJ is a part of the OG Pogue crew and also a beloved character. Shockingly, he was killed off in the finale by Groff.
Hints were dropped throughout the season that teased his death: Kiara (Madison Bailey) told JJ, “Your luck’s gonna run out one day,” for example. Still, it’s safe to say that we are still recovering from this emotional twist and are curious to see what the Pogues’ lives will look like without JJ.
