Outer Banks questions answered before Season 4 Part 2: Death, more

Outer Banks Season 4 isn't over yet, but fans have already gotten answers to some of their top questions about this season's biggest on-screen twists.

The hit Netflix series, which premiered in 2020, introduced viewers to a coastal town in North Carolina's Outer Banks that is divided into two sides – the rich and the working class – as a group of teenagers embark on a dangerous treasure hunt . At the end of the third season, the group finds the riches they were looking for, leaving fans with a so-called happy ending.

A few months later, Outer Banks picked up again with John B (Chase Stokes), Sarah (Madelyn Cline), Kiara (Madison Bailey), Pope (Jonathan Daviss), JJ (Rudy Pankow) and Cleo (Carlacia Grant) try to plan their future with the gold they have found. However, money quickly ran out, forcing the group to return to their freelance treasure hunt.

The first part of season four put Pope and Sarah in danger, while their significant others – Cleo and John B – are unaware of how dire their situation is. Meanwhile, JJ found out some information about his family while Kiara was just trying to keep it as the gang navigates ghost stories, wheels from falling, the menacing man searching for the treasure that lies ahead, and more.

With many questions still left unanswered – for now – the cast and crew are giving fans a glimpse of what they can expect from Season 4, Part 2. Keep scrolling for answers to some of these burning questions:

How will JJ handle the paternity revelation?

Just as Part 1 was wrapping up, JJ found out that Luke isn't his biological father – Chandler Groff is actually JJ's father. Meanwhile, JJ learns that his mother may have died as a result of Blackbeard's curse.

“Well, you always try to torture your characters, don't you?” co-creator Jonas Godfather told Tudum after the first episodes were released. “What would torture JJ the most? The revelation that he’s a kook.”

According to Jonas, it might take some time for JJ to come to terms with his fatherhood. “We focused on one character each season and knew this season would be truly JJ-centric,” said co-creator Josh Pate Weekly entertainment in October “And that was one of the first ideas we had. The worst thing that could happen to JJ is that he finds out that he's actually a Kook because he's the Pogueist Pogue, and that would just get him in the frying pan.”

He continued: “This was an idea we had quite early in the development of the season and we loved the idea. And we thought about bringing up this revelation at the beginning of the season, but we like where it ended up. But it’s all part of the YJ year.”

Now third co-creator Shannon Burke teased how JJ might react to the shocking revelation. “It really begins a long journey for him, where he experiences probably the most extreme sequence of events in memory Outer Banks” she added EW . “This is the first step in things that we obviously don't want to talk about because it is the entire second part. But JJ, he’s not taking it well, that’ll be clear straight away.”

Pankow also commented on the bombing and told a meaningful story TV Insider in October: “In a weird sense that could be hopeful, but it could also be very discouraging, asking, 'Will I find myself again?' I think that’s what Part 2 is about for him. It’s about me actually having to figure out: Who am I then?”

He added: “I think it’s hard for him to come to terms with it. 'Does this change anything?'”

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How will Kiara and JJ regroup – and should fans be worried about their relationship?

“It's all connected. That will be part of the story where he confronts these things and rules them out,” Burke explained EW in the same interview. “Basically, the end of Episode 5 is really the driving force of the entire second half of the season, and we're only just getting to it. We held it back so we could have Pogue fun first – we saved that reveal until then so we could tell some more personal stories and have some Kooks and Pogues on the beach in Episode 4, things you couldn't do “If it's the real treasure. The hunt had begun.”

Will there actually be ghosts in the series?

“Superstition, curse, threat – it just felt like a part of the Blackbeard story. I feel like that's not a good or satisfactory answer for you, but that's how we came up with it. It feels right,” Burke said EW. “This feels like Outer Banks and became part of the mythology of the Legend of the Treasure.”

Similarly, Josh hinted at the future of the show, adding: “We always try to create a mythology around the treasure, so our usual process has been to make up crazy stories.” I don't know if it's about anything specifically was inspired. It just seemed like something useful and creative.”

Who almost came back for Outer Banks season 4 – but ultimately didn't?

Cleo was able to reunite with her old employer Terrance (Terence Rosemore), while helping the Pogues track down the treasure. Unfortunately, Terrance was working for Lightner, who took Cleo hostage to track down the amulet.

“We toyed with bringing Stubbs back (Jontavious Johnson) too,” Josh hints Tudum in October. Burke made it clear that they might still bring the cast member back to cause more chaos in the second half of the season.

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How will the unexpected death affect Cleo?

“She keeps a lot of her feelings to herself and changes as a person,” Grant said of Cleo's reaction to Terrance sacrificing himself for her. Burke, meanwhile, explained that Terrance's death is part of Cleo's “bigger story arc” for Season 4.

“This will begin a series of events that will likely continue even beyond this season,” she said Weekly entertainmentwhile Josh added: “We always try to put pressure on them. And it’s easy when you have crazy teenage characters because they always do the wrong thing – out of the frying pan into the fire.”

Will Rafe get a redemption arc?

“I really don’t know,” Starkey said TV Insider before noting that his character is “a little more jaded and calloused” this season. “I think that shapes the way he moves through the world now. I don't know if he's ever sincere in his approach to anything. Maybe that's him? I'm not sure. But I think that's what hopefully makes it exciting. I think there must be a part of him that longs for a deeper connection with people.”

Burke commented on Rafe's journey and shared EW“The best Rafe is an unpredictable Rafe.” Every now and then we will notice that Rafe almost borders on Pogue. But the best Rafe is the bad Rafe, so we always have to remind you of that.”

Will the Pogues continue to face greater dangers?

According to Stokes, the stakes have never been higher. “I think life will always present opportunities to break things apart,” Stokes said TV Insider in October about the future of the Pogues. “These children have found some form of stability, created a home and created sustainability for the first time in their lives. And that is quickly taken away from them.”

Burke warned that fans should expect “higher emotional stakes.”

“They were really in trouble in the second half. And there is more at stake. The adventure they go on is probably my favorite adventure,” Josh said EW. “They take a journey through the world that takes them further afield than ever before, where they're really, really out of their comfort zone, and that makes for a really dramatic, explosive story in the second half. We're going to have the biggest (action scenes) we've ever had. The scope is enormous.”