Since her breakthrough performance in the Netflix series Outer Banks, Madelyn Cline has shot to super stardom. She has 14 million Instagram followers and a big budget blockbuster, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, under her belt. Now, the 25-year-old is ready for fans to get back into the drama in the Banks.
The action-packed series follows a set of treasure-hungry teens from the barrier islands off the coast of North Carolina that split into groups, the Kooks and the Pogues. Cline’s character Sarah transitioned from the former to the latter over the past two seasons. Now, Outer Banks will continue to detail the Pogues’ ardent search for gold and Cline shares that fans will see Sarah’s tumultuous relationship with her family.
“Sarah’s been through a lot,” Cline told Netflix’s publication TUDUM. “Season 1 was bridging the gap between two different worlds. The adventure took off from there and then, in finding her footing and her voice, came some conflict, which happens sometimes when you speak up about things and others disagree.”
In the upcoming season, Sarah will have to unpack her trauma, triggered by her nefarious father, Ward (played by Charles Esten) and her brother Rafe (portrayed by Drew Starkey). She’ll have to contend with the fact that they do not approve of her relationship with John B (Chase Stokes) and her friendship with the Pogues — a collective of kids from the poorer part of town. “I love that she’s part of the Pogues and now in on the action,” said Cline. “She’s tough. She’s growing a thick skin and she’s not afraid to get dirty and be a badass.”
“Her journey has been shedding an old part of herself,” Cline said. “This year with Sarah, we hit an emotional wall. I was really happy to do a little bit of internal work on her. We slow down and see some of the effects of the things she’s gone through the past couple seasons. I was really excited the writers gave that to me, because you can’t have all this go-go-go without hitting a wall at some point.”
Playing on-screen lovers, Cline and Stokes began dating off-camera in 2020. Despite breaking things off in November 2021, Cline said the cast remains a tight-knit group.
In 2021 just ahead of the season 2 debut, Cline exclusively spoke to GRAZIA USA about how her close relationship with her cast mates has helped her navigate the crazy ride of fame. “We all kind of started in the same place when we got the show,” she explained, “and we just stuck together. We’re all going through the same thing and it just helps to have people around you who understand and who are there for you. We keep each other grounded and we hype each other up. We’re all each other’s best hype man.”
“The first season of the show felt like going and shooting an indie,” Cline said. “It was very tight-knit, so the filming of the first season felt very intimate in the best way possible. We really vibe with our crew and our cast, obviously. We immediately had chemistry, and we immediately started hanging out, which is amazing.”
On Monday, Netflix renewed Outer Banks for a fourth season before season 3 even landed on the streamer. If this is any indication of what’s in store for fans, it’s time to get excited.
Outer Banks season 3 premieres Feb. 23 on Netflix.
