We thought we officially said goodbye to Outer Banks this August 20, but not so fast. The world of Kildare is not actually closing for business. Netflix is working on an Outer Banks spin off, a prequel series with the working title Kildare, and it sounds less like bonus fan service and more like a full blown origin story.

Instead of following John B and the gang on yet another cursed treasure hunt, the spin off rewinds about 20 years to ask a much juicier question: how did this island split into Kooks and Pogues in the first place. Think less sun kissed caper, more messy small town history with yachts.

Is An Outer Banks Spin Off Really Happening?

Deadline first reported that Netflix has put an Outer Banks prequel into formal development, with creators Josh Pate, Jonas Pate and Shannon Burke writing. That means Netflix is paying for scripts and actively shaping the show, not just listening to a pitch in a conference room.

“We are working on the script, and we just want to get it as good as it can be,” Josh Pate says. Translation: no sets, no cast, no trailer yet, but this is a real project with the original brains trust, not a random spin off cooked up in a different office.

What Is Kildare About? Plot, Timeline And Setting

The new series is set roughly 20 years before the events of Outer Banks, still on fictional Kildare Island. Instead of treasure maps, the focus is how the island’s brutal class system came to be. “It really is the story of how the island split, and it’s particularly relevant in our country right now,” Josh Pate says.

Expect Kooks as old money aspirants and Pogues as the kids whose parents built those mansions, not just skateboarded past them. The premise, according to the creators, is to show “how it split into the haves and the have nots, how the Kooks and the Pogues started,” so we finally see the first shots fired in Kildare’s class war.

On the original show, the class gap is the backdrop to every fling, fight and shipwreck. In Kildare, it becomes the whole point. Swap out teens on bikes for their parents hustling for land, power and proximity to the country club, in a coastal town where climate gentrification is very much a thing.

If you have ever watched a beachfront go from crab shacks to $20,000 initiation fees, you already know the vibe. The creators seem ready to tap into that, only with better hair and more speedboats.

Which Characters Could Show Up In The Outer Banks Spin Off?

The Pogues themselves probably will not show up, at least not in their teen forms. Burke has said the prequel will center on the adults. “The prequel will tell stories of some of the characters you know and some new characters, but they are 20 years before, so it is the parents’ generation,” Shannon Burke says.

So we are not following John B, JJ, Kiara, Sarah and Pope, but the people who raised them and messed them up long before Ward Cameron started throwing people off boats.

Men’s Journal, via Yahoo, flagged the fathers of John B, JJ, Sarah and Rafe as obvious candidates, along with Pope and Kiara’s parents and even Topper’s mother and grandmother. None of that is officially confirmed, but it makes delicious sense.

Imagine a younger Big John chasing his first mythic score, or the Camerons buying up half the island before they owned it outright in the main series. Kiara’s dad going from Pogue roots to Pogue hater practically begs for a flashback. Just treat all of that as informed speculation, not a cast list.

Who Is Making Kildare And When Could It Arrive?

The good news for fans who like the show’s chaotic, pulpy tone is that the same trio is at the helm. Josh Pate, Jonas Pate and Shannon Burke, the co creators of Outer Banks, are writing and executive producing the prequel for Netflix.

That continuity matters. This is not a polite prestige drama bolted onto the brand. It is the same creative DNA, just aged up a generation and leaning harder into social fault lines than buried gold.

Right now, Kildare is in script development, which is industry speak for outlines, rewrites and endless notes. There is no filming start date, no episode count and no release window from Netflix.

Even with a fast track, a scripted prequel would likely need at least a year after scripting before it hits your Netflix homepage, so a drop any earlier than late 2027 would be ambitious. For now, it is safe to assume you will say goodbye to season five first, then have a decent wait before checking back into Kildare.