Sunday, February 9, 2025

No. 2 Most Read Story of 2023: ‘OBX’ to film season 4 in ILM

‘Outer Banks’ director Jonas Pate — with actor Chase Stokes who plays Jon B — confirmed to Port City Daily “Outer Banks” plans to shoot some scenes from its anticipated fourth season in New Hanover County and surrounding regions. (Courtesy Netflix)

SOUTHEASTERN N.C. — It’s the time of year when Port City Daily counts down its most read pieces throughout 2023.

CATCH UP: No. 3 Most Read Story of 2023: 5 local businesses out, Wawa in

When it was announced Netflix’s beloved show “Outer Banks” would be coming to film in the actual region where it’s scripted locations are mentioned in the show — Masonboro, Figure 8 — fans (and readers) went wild. It was shared on social media by the thousands, with many clamoring for extra and background roles.

Creator Jonas Pate — who lives in Wilmington — told PCD in the spring his goal was always to come back home: “Finally, four seasons in, we get to go to North Carolina.” 

Pate, his twin brother Joshua and collaborator Shannon Burke had plans to originally film the show in the Port City. But the controversial House Bill 2 sent some producers in film industry, including Netflix, packing to other states.

Instead, crews set up home base in Charleston, South Carolina, and aired the first season to much success in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Pate wanted to utilize his home’s pristine beaches, especially, in season four. Previous seasons of “OBX” have traveled to other locations for coastal shots, including most recently in Barbados.

“We’ve rarely actually shot beaches in Charleston,” Pate said last spring. “We’ve always gone to other places.”

Yet, as the summer season arrived, the film industry strikes strengthened, when actors from SAG-AFTRA joined the writers from the Writers’ Guild of America to effectively shut down the industry even further. Pate told PCD they had enough scripted content previously written to carry them through summer, but without actors cameras couldn’t roll.

All film permits halted, pausing the show’s return to the Tar Heel State until late fall. After the strikes resolved, “Outer Banks” was up and running locally, filming in Wrightsville Beach and Fort Fisher for three weeks in November and December.

The official announcement of its arrival to town was published in June and was the second most read story of 2023:


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Shea Carver
Shea Carver
Shea Carver is the editor in chief at Port City Daily. A UNCW alumna, Shea worked in the print media business in Wilmington for 22 years before joining the PCD team in October 2020. She specializes in arts coverage — music, film, literature, theatre — the dining scene, and can often be tapped on where to go, what to do and who to see in Wilmington. When she isn’t hanging with her pup, Shadow Wolf, tending the garden or spinning vinyl, she’s attending concerts and live theater.

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