Drew Starkey cried so hard when “Outer Banks” wrapped people got concerned: ‘Thought I was a sociopath’
Drew Starkey cried so hard when “Outer Banks” wrapped people got concerned: ‘Thought I was a sociopath’
Mekishana PierreFri, July 31, 2026 at 2:43 PM UTC
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Drew Starkey on ‘Outer Banks’Credit: Jackson Lee Davis/NetflixKey Points -
Drew Starkey admits that the wrap of Outer Banks’ fifth and final season didn’t quite go the way he expected.
“I cried for a solid two hours, and crew members kept coming back up to me,” the actor said during an appearance on The Tonight Show Thursday.
Netflix’s beloved teen adventure mystery series begins its thrilling final season on Aug. 20.
Saying goodbye to everyone’s favorite band of ragtag Pogues wouldn’t be easy for anyone, which Outer Banksstar Drew Starkey learned the hard way.
The actor admitted during his appearance on Thursday’s episode of The Tonight Showthat he didn’t expect to get emotional when it came to wrapping up production on the fifth and final season of the Netflix teen drama, despite acknowledging that it was “totally bittersweet.”
“The last couple months of filming, I thought I was fine. I thought I was a sociopath,” Starkey quipped to host Jimmy Fallon. “I was like, ‘I feel nothing. I’m ready to get out of here. I don’t care.’ And then the last shot of my last scene, right when they yelled, ‘Cut,’ I was just weeping, like, constantly.”
When the audience responded with ‘Aw’s, Starkey interjected to emphasize that people were concerned by the amount of weeping he was doing at the time.
Drew Starkey and host Jimmy Fallon on ‘The Tonight Show’ on July 30, 2026Credit: Rosalind O'Connor/NBC
“I cried for a solid two hours, and crew members kept coming back up to me,” the Lucky star continued. “I was like, ‘I’m good!’ And then someone would walk up, and I’d be like [weeping face].”
Looking back on his reaction, Starkey told the host that it was triggered by “all these memories” of his time working on the show that came “flooding back.”
“I mean, I started the show when I was 25, and I’m 32 now. So it was — I don’t know. It was such a sentimental time,” he added. “We spent seven years on that show, and those were my best friends.”
The beloved teen adventure mystery series launched on Netflix in April 2020 and begins its thrilling final season on Aug. 20.
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While every episode of Outer Banks is generally packed to the gills with twists, turns, motorcycle chases, police standoffs, knife fights, high-stakes heists, and more, the season 4 finale pushed the action to another level, killing off a core member of the ensemble in a move no one saw coming.
The death of JJ, played by Rudy Pankow since season 1, will be a major point of the story of going into season 5.
“This is going to be the main story for the rest of season 5 — it’s going to be the emotional spine,” showrunner Shannon Burke previously told Entertainment Weekly of the effect of JJ’s death. “It’s not something you get over in a day or an episode. It’s something that is going to affect them and it’s going to be the emotional center of the rest of the series. Mourning is just a tiny piece of it, but they all will be dealing with this gap in their friendship and how it affects them.”
Drew Starkey, Madelyn Cline, Carlacia Grant, Chase Stokes, Madison Bailey, and Jonathan Daviss on ‘Outer Banks’Credit: Jackson Lee Davis/Netflix
According to the official logline for the final installment: “Season 5 finds the Pogues at their absolute breaking point following the tragic loss of JJ in Morocco. Stranded far from home and mourning the heart of their crew, they’ve lost the Blue Crown and continue to face a gauntlet of familiar threats. With Chandler Groff still at large, Dalia and the Corsairs closing in, and the Kooks ensuring the Pogues have no home to return to, John B, Sarah, Kiara, Pope, and Cleo must rely on their scrappy instincts—and an uneasy alliance with Rafe—to keep from falling apart for good.”
“Their mission is now a desperate race to reclaim their future and finally win the freedom they’ve been chasing since the beginning,” the description continues. “It’s the Pogues against the world as they seek to avenge their best friend and bring it on home…one final time. “
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Watch Starkey’s full appearance on The Tonight Show above.
on Entertainment Weekly
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
