When JJ Maybank (Rudy Pankow) died at the end of Season 4 of Outer Banks, fans were dealt a major blow. However, creators Jonas Pate, Josh Pate, and Shannon Burke have actually made the best decisions for the show’s upcoming and final season. For the first four seasons, JJ was a great character who helped move the storyline forward, but his own personal character arc fell flat, leaving little room for the Pogues to grow as individuals or as a group. It was often the Pogue’s altercations with the Kooks — namely, Rafe Cameron (Drew Starkey) — led to countless twists and turns for all the characters in Season 4.
Now, with JJ dead, it’s clear that Rafe is one of the best replacements. Yes, Rafe is known for his volatile relationships, especially with his Kook-Turned-Pogue sister Sarah (Madelyn Cline). Although Season 4 had a ton of flaws, it still set the stage for a reformed version of Rafe to emerge. Rafe’s interactions with the Pogues could create just enough drama to make Season 5 the Outer Bank’s best season yet. And there’s no reason Rafe’s proposed redemption character arc can’t make this happen.
Rafe Joining the Pogues Will Change the Show’s Entire Dynamic
Whether it’s television or a movie, character arcs set the tone for the entire performance, and Rafe is primed to fill this role. He’s demonstrated himself to be a person of highly questionable morals, especially when you consider his despicable actions towards his sister. But throughout Season 4, audiences saw a lighter side of Rafe. He reached out to Sarah, trying to fix the bond he had broken, even if indirectly. He even helped the Pogues toward the end of the season, securing them a boat for their next venture. Sure, it wasn’t altruistic, as Rafe had ulterior motives. However, these are signs that signal that all hope is not lost for him.
Collider Exclusive · Action Hero Quiz Which Action Hero Would Be Your Perfect Partner? Rambo · James Bond · Indiana Jones · John McClane · Ethan Hunt
Five legends. Five completely different ways of getting out alive — with style, with muscle, with charm, with luck, or with a plan so intricate it probably shouldn’t work. Ten questions will reveal which action hero was built to have your back.
🎖️Rambo
🍸James Bond
🏺Indiana Jones
🔧John McClane
🎭Ethan Hunt
01
You’re dropped into a dangerous situation with no warning. What do you need most from a partner? The first few seconds tell you everything about who belongs beside you.
02
You have to get somewhere dangerous, fast. How do you travel? How you get there is half the mission.
03
You’re pinned down and outnumbered. What does your ideal partner do? This is when you find out what someone is really made of.
04
The mission is paused. You have one evening to decompress. What does your partner suggest? Who someone is when the pressure drops is who they actually are.
05
How do you prefer your partner to communicate mid-mission? Good communication is the difference between partners and a liability.
06
Your enemy is powerful, well-resourced, and has the upper hand. How should your partner approach them? The approach to the enemy defines the partnership.
07
Things go badly wrong and you’re captured. What do you trust your partner to do? Who someone is when you need them most is the only thing that matters.
08
What does your ideal partner bring to the table that you couldn’t replace? A great partner fills the gap you didn’t know you had.
09
Every partnership has a cost. Which of these can you live with? No one comes without baggage. The question is whether you can carry it together.
10
It’s the final moment. Everything is on the line. What do you need from your partner right now? The last question is the most honest one.
Your Partner Has Been Assigned Your Perfect Partner Is…
Your answers have pointed to one action hero above all others. This is the person built to have your back — for better or considerably, spectacularly worse.
Rambo
Your partner doesn’t talk much, doesn’t need to, and will have assessed every threat in your immediate environment before you’ve finished your first sentence. John Rambo is not a man of plans or politics — he is a force of nature shaped by survival, loyalty, and a capacity for endurance that goes beyond anything training can produce. He will not leave you behind. He has never left anyone behind who deserved to come home. What you get with Rambo is the most capable, most quietly ferocious partner imaginable — one who has been through things that would have broken anyone else, and who chose to keep going anyway. You’ll never need to ask if he has your back. You’ll just know.
James Bond
Your partner will arrive perfectly dressed, perfectly briefed, and with a cover story so convincing it’ll take you a moment to remember what’s actually true. James Bond is the most professionally dangerous person in any room he enters — and the most disarmingly charming, which is the point. He operates in a world of layers, where nothing is what it appears and every advantage is used without apology. You’ll never be bored. You’ll occasionally be furious. But when it matters — when the mission is genuinely on the line and the margin for error has collapsed to nothing — Bond is exactly the partner you want. He has survived things that have no business being survivable. He does it with style. That is not nothing.
Indiana Jones
Your partner will know the history, the language, the cultural context, and exactly why the thing everyone else is ignoring is actually the most important thing in the room. Indiana Jones is brilliant, reckless, and occasionally impossible — but he is also one of the most resourceful, most genuinely knowledgeable partners you could find yourself beside. He approaches every situation with a scholar’s eye and a brawler’s instinct, which is an unusual combination and a remarkably effective one. He hates snakes and gets personally attached to objects of historical significance, both of which will slow you down at least once. It doesn’t matter. What Indy brings is irreplaceable — and the adventures you’ll have together will be the kind people write books about. Assuming you survive them.
John McClane
Your partner was not supposed to be here. He does not have the right equipment, the right information, or anything approaching the right odds. He has a sarcastic remark and an absolute refusal to accept that the situation is as bad as it looks. John McClane is the greatest accidental hero in the history of action cinema — a man whose superpower is stubbornness, whose contingency plan is improvisation, and whose capacity to absorb punishment and keep moving would be alarming if it weren’t so useful. He will complain the entire time. He will make it significantly more chaotic than it needed to be. And he will absolutely, unconditionally, without question come through when it counts. Yippee-ki-yay.
Ethan Hunt
Your partner has already run seventeen scenarios by the time you’ve finished reading the briefing, and the plan he’s settled on involves at least two things that should be physically impossible. Ethan Hunt operates at the absolute edge of human capability — technically, physically, and intellectually — and he brings the same relentless precision to protecting his partners that he brings to dismantling organisations that shouldn’t exist. He is not easy to know and he will never fully tell you everything. But he will carry the weight of the mission so completely, so absolutely, that your job is simply to trust him — and the remarkable thing is that trusting him always turns out to be the right call. The mission will be impossible. He will complete it anyway.
With a less-than-stellar father figure (and that’s putting it lightly), Rafe and Sarah were forced to forge their own paths. Sarah found the Pogues, while Rafe continued to run with the Kooks. At times, Rafe was absolutely one of the most selfish men on TV, but his relationship with Sofia (Fiona Palomo) has softened him, and the loss of his father has made him question his life decisions. Even after finding out about Sofia’s betrayal, it’s possible that he could form some alliance or friendship with Kiara (Madison Bailey) and reconcile the bad blood between them that came from when they were captured by Carlos Singh (Andy McQueen).
New Character Arcs Teach Valuable Lessons
If Season 5 continues to follow Sarah’s pregnancy (instead of fast-forwarding), audiences may get to see the siblings bonding over a new family member instead of constantly rehashing the past. There are opportunities for John B (Chase Stokes) to overcome his aggression towards the Kooks, with Rafe providing crucial insight that may bridge the gap between the two groups. No, there doesn’t need to be a completely harmonious relationship between them, but John B and Rafe burying the hatchet shows that people are capable of change, allowing Outer Banks to have some uplifting moments and show that these two groups can break the cycle of prejudice.
And while it doesn’t excuse his behavior, Rafe has also overcome several obstacles that open the door for honest discussions about unresolved trauma from his childhood. By allowing Rafe to assume JJ’s empty space on Outer Banks, creators allow the show to reach its conclusion with a fresh perspective. Redeeming Rafe makes sense, but it has to feel earned. Rafe’s unique position between the Kooks and the Pogues could also help the show bridge the gap between the two groups. Rafe might help find common ground between the two groups. It would be exciting to see Rafe actually acknowledge the trauma he’s dealt with and find a place among the Pogues. Let’s be honest, JJ’s antics were beginning to feel repetitive, Rafe joining the group could help the Pogues in a way JJ never could.
