Netflix Star Says Cast Is ‘Ready’ for Fan-Favorite Show to Be ‘Done’

Chase Stokes is ready to set his sails away from Kildare Island.

The Outer Banks star, who has starred in the popular Netflix drama as John B. Routledge since 2019, told PEOPLE ahead of the series’ fifth and final season premiere in 2026 that he and his castmates are “thankful for the run” and “ready for it to be done.”

“We want the story to end on the right note versus [turning] four seasons into season nine and we’re going after aliens or something,” Stokes told the outlet. “We want to cut the cord before we lose the plot.”

Looking back on his journey with Outer Banks, Stokes said he feels “gratitude,” as he had previously seen the audition for the Netflix series as his “last shot at this industry.”

Stokes recalled having a “full mental breakdown, sobbing” on the curb in front of the production office after feeling like he had “bombed” the audition. “[Series co-creator Jonas Pate] came out and he put his arm around me and he said, ‘Hey, I don’t know what you’re going through. I don’t know what you are feeling right now, but if you can bring this right here back into the room, I promise it’s going to be magical,’” he recalled.

“There’s just so much gratitude because I was a kid who had a dream and no access to an industry, never really even knew what the process was,” Stokes went on. “I’ve checked so many boxes that I thought it would span the course of the next 40 years of my career.”

While he’s thankful for his time on Outer Banks, Stokes admitted he’s “never been more excited” about the next step in his career, which includes his directorial debut next fall and some “very cool projects” that he’s ready to “bring to life when the time is right.”

“I always reference Robert Pattinson after he finished Twilight and [the] Harry Potter [franchise] and how he took creative risks, but really challenged himself as an artist. That’s the blueprint for me,” Stokes explained. “I want to show people that the floppy-haired beach boy from the Netflix young adult show, is now 33 years old. And at the end of the day, all I want to do is challenge myself.”