WILMINGTON — A locally filmed show may not be coming back for a second season, but The Runarounds have no plans to end the bond the band formed for the silver screen.
“We always kind of felt like the band and the TV show can live separately from each other,” drummer Zendé Murdock told Port City Daily Saturday.
READ MORE: The Runarounds make local debut, 9 months after shooting pilot episode with ‘OBX’ creator
Created by Jonas Pate, Joshua Pate and Shannon Burke, The Runarounds came together from a casting call for “Outer Banks” and were first introduced to the world in a wedding scene in season three of the popular Netflix series.
Filmed in Wilmington, “The Runarounds” followed a high-school band heading into the music industry in search of their big break. The show premiered on Amazon Prime in September, but earlier this month, the streamer announced it was canceling the show after one season.
The news came amid the band’s 19-stop Minivan Tour, which brought the band to High Water Festival in Charleston, South Carolina. The Runarounds sat down with Port City Daily to their new single and the band’s future.
Below is a Q&A with band members Murdock, William Lipton, Axel Ellis, Jesse Golliher and Jeremy Yun.
PCD: This is your first time at High Water Festival — how are you feeling about performing today?
Ellis: It’s like a forest. It’s gorgeous. It’s a beautiful day. It’s so, so pretty and natural, nature covered. It should be fun…Charleston’s homey for us.
PCD: How is the tour going?
Murdock: It’s going quite well. We’re at the end of this stretch right now, and we’re having a good time.
Yun: We have been having the time of our lives. We love being on tour, so much fun.
PCD: Talk to me about your newest single, “Bleachers,” which came out yesterday. What was the inspiration behind that song and how did it come together?
Ellis: It was funny. It was like, almost going to be a prompt from our director for something, and then we just took it and tried to make it real and connect with it. But it’s kind of about that feeling of, like, say, for like, sneaking out like you would do when you were a kid living with your parents. Just doing things that way, still, just to kind of feel that sense of freedom.
Lipton: It’s kind of about reliving the past with your present self to garner a feeling of enjoyment, nostalgia. It’s nostalgic.
PCD: Many people, in WIlmington especially, were sad to see the show wouldn’t be returning for a second season. What did that conversation look like amongst you guys when you got that news?
Murdock: Regardless of what was going to happen with the TV show, we were always just gonna band it, whether we go for five seasons or one season. It’s been quite a while since the TV show came out, so we’ve had a little bit of time to wrap our heads around, like yes or no. So not exactly the most shocking thing in the world, but here we are, and we’re just going to keep doing our thing.
Lipton: I would also like to add, we’re incredibly grateful for the amount of support that we’ve received with the recent news. I’m blown away at just the love we’ve been feeling at these shows that we’ve been playing in these last two weeks. We’re going to be working on an album; we’re doing the band thing. We’re very excited for everyone to see what’s to come.
PCD: Anything you’ll miss about filming in Wilmington?
Golliher: The people. There was such a good crew. We got to see some of them yesterday when we were filming a music video. And hopefully we’ll get to see them when we come through Wilmington.
Eliis: The beach, the restaurants, the vibe — we had so many good friends there. We were all hitting the beach as much as possible, and Ceviches and certain places we would go.
Lipton: Blue Post!
Ellis: Yeah, we didn’t grow up on an East Coast beach-type thing, and so it was really beautiful to experience that special time.
PCD: What can we look forward to musically from you guys?
Lipton: We’re actually heading into the studio at the top of May. We’ve been working on a collection of songs in like, kind of like the vein of season two, but now that’s kind of off the table, so all bets are off. We’re gonna really explore what we want to do with the band, sound wise. And we’re super excited. It’s just, it’s just gonna be a lot of play, a lot of a lot of feeling through, and I’m very confident we can land on something really special.
Below are photos from The Runarounds’ set at High Water Festival 2026 by Lauren Wessell Williams for Port City Daily.
At Port City Daily, we aim to keep locals informed on top-of-mind news facing the tri-county region. To support our work and help us reach more people in 2026, please, consider helping one of two ways: Subscribe here or make a one-time contribution here.
We appreciate your ongoing support.
