‘Outer Banks’ Cast Breaks Down Avenging JJ’s Death in Series Finale

Despite JJ Maybank’s (Rudy Pankow) demise, he remained the heart of Outer Banks‘ fifth and final season. After his tragic death at the hands of his own father, Chandler Groff (J. Anthony Crane), Kiara (Madison Bailey) was on a revenge mission. No matter what curveballs or dangerous situations she was put in (and there were plenty), Kiara was determined to avenge the man she loved. (Warning: Spoilers for Outer Banks Season 5 ahead!)

Her quest to face off against Groff once and for all came to a head in the series finale. In the midst of a catastrophic hurricane, Kiara finally got her chance to confront the man who killed JJ. After a brutal, messy fight aboard a boat, Kiara triumphed over Groff, scaling him up on the ship’s mast. The mast snapped in half in the storm, leaving Groff hanging just above the violent sea. Kiara didn’t waste her opportunity. With the knife Groff used to kill JJ, she cut the rope keeping Groff attached. He plunged into the sea, with the mast dragging him to the bottom.

“I think that was something that was really important to me from the beginning,” Bailey told TV Insider of Kiara being the one to avenge JJ’s death by killing Groff. “Even learning what was happening last season, I was like, hopefully, it’s Kiara, and I was really happy with the way that it turned out, and it felt true to Kiara, and I was excited about it.”

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Jonathan Daviss said, “We knew that was always what she was going to do. We knew that’s what the character deserved, especially after how last season ended, we always kind of felt that was the energy going in this year, that she needed that kind of moment.”

Chase Stokes added, “It’s such a badass sequence, and Madison did almost the majority of the stunt work on that, and she came back to work battered and bruised and sore, so to see it turn out the way that it did, like, I know she’s super proud of it. But yeah, if somebody’s gonna take out Groff, it’s gonna be Kie.”

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Throughout Kiara’s journey to take down Groff, Bailey was able to dabble in more stunt work than she’d ever done before. When looking back at the final season, Bailey admitted that Kiara’s series finale boat fight with Groff was the most challenging.

“It was just grueling, and that is such an intensity to maintain for that long,” she said, noting that it was “a hard energy to maintain” given the emotional stakes and the physicality of the season. “The boat’s rocking. There’s a hurricane. We’re fighting physically. I’m getting cut up [with] bumps and bruises. It wasn’t the scariest one of all of them, but it was definitely the hardest.”

What did you think of the Outer Banks series finale? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Outer Banks, All Seasons, Streaming Now, Netflix