Is ‘Outer Banks’ A Real Place? All The Season 5 Locations You Can Visit
Is it bad to already reminisce about Outer Banks (2020)? The fifth and final season of the Netflix show only dropped a week ago—on Thursday, August 20. It would be totally understandable if most fans haven’t even made it through the 10 episodes yet. I know I’m pacing my watch, though I’ve asked friends where my favorites ended up. Interestingly, one of my questions about the final season is what will happen to the main characters’ home. Even though there have been many reasons for the characters to leave (or run away from) the place, it's still at the heart of the show. It’s where this story began and where these characters met.
Obviously, as its title suggests, the show takes place in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. But the real answer to the show’s setting is more complicated than it seems. The show takes liberties to create a fictionalized version of a real thing. Not to mention, its filming locations are also different from what some may think. (Spoiler alert: Outer Banks doesn’t film in the real OBX or North Carolina in general.) As fans wrap up their watch of the series, it may be interesting to learn these behind-the-scenes details, including which locations are available to visit.
Where Is ‘Outer Banks’ Set?
Outer Banks is set in a fictional version of a real place. The actual place is a string of barrier islands in North Carolina. The show, especially its first season, takes place on Kildare Island. That island is a made-up location for the show, but it finds its name through real-world connections to the actual Outer Banks. Per the Outer Banks’s official website, “kil” comes from the town of Kill Devil Hills, while the “dare” comes from what is now known as Dare County.
In the context of the show, Kildare Island was bought by Denmark Tanny, a slave who survived the Royal Merchant shipwreck. He used the gold to buy the island and free himself and the other slaves. Tannyhill used to be Denmark’s home, but by the time the show picks up, Sarah (Madelyn Cline) and the Camerons lived there. By Outer Banks’s series finale, Pope (Jonathan Daviss), Denmark’s direct descendant, bought the home to live in with Cleo (Carlacia Grant).
Kildare Island is mainly divided into two parts: Figure 8 and The Cut. The former is where the Camerons lived. It’s the upper-class and northern portion of the island. The people who live there are referred to as “Kooks.” It’s where Kiara (Madison Bailey) lives at the start of the show, too. Meanwhile, the “Pogues,” like Pope, JJ (Rudy Pankow), and John B (Chase Stokes), live in the more working-class, southern portion of the island. That’s The Cut. The Kooks and the Pogues have a storied feud (to say the least) based on biases and socio-economic differences.
Where Did ‘Outer Banks’ Season 5 Film?
While the show takes place in North Carolina, it doesn’t film there. Outer Banks actually films in South Carolina—Charleston, to be exact. Originally, the adventure-minded teen drama was meant to film in Wilmington, North Carolina. As a fan of the TV sub-genre, I know that that’s where two of the greats—Dawson’s Creek (1998) and One Tree Hill (2003)—was filmed. It moved locations because of “North Carolina's support, at the time, of 2016's anti-trans HB2, also known as the ‘Bathroom Bill,’ which makes it illegal to use a restroom that does not line up with the sex you were assigned at birth, according to the Wilmington Star-News,” per Refinery29.
Co-creator, executive producer, director, and writer Jonas Pate spoke with the Wilmington Star-News, per Refinery29, about the streamer’s choice. “When we wrote it, it was 100 percent Wilmington in our heads. We wanted to film it here. But Netflix made the right decision to insist on inclusivity, and we completely agree with them.” Since then, including for its fifth and final season, Outer Banks has filmed in Charleston, South Carolina.
Some of the locations are even accessible for fans to visit if they want to do so. For instance, the Island Inn Golf Club is actually the Kiawah Island Golf Resort. Ellie’s (Natalie Brown) High House is on E. Bay Street in Charleston, while Barry’s place and the Cameron Fish Shack are real properties in Charleston. Even Wincloss House, the location of Season 5’s masquerade, can be seen on Josie Ridge Lane on Wadmalaw Island, South Carolina. As someone who still wants to visit Mystic Falls’s town square from The Vampire Diaries (2009), which is actually just the town square in Covington, Georgia, and many, many One Tree Hill locations, I like the idea that Outer Banks fans can also visit some of the locations from their favorite show.
