Who is Carla Limbrey on ‘Outer Banks’ Season 3?

If you’re a fan of Netflix’s treasure hunting series Outer Banks, you know that the series doesn’t skimp on the characters or deep continuity. From Sarah Cameron’s (Madelyn Cline) complicated family, to random characters from two seasons back popping up to give our leads a ride, the main ethos of Outer Banks is “roll with it, because we don’t have time to explain.” So you’d be forgiven if you forgot all about who Carla Limbrey is on Outer Banks Season 3.

Who Is Carla Limbrey on Outer Banks?

Despite being one of the main antagonists of Outer Banks Season 2, Limbrey only plays a small — but important — roll in Season 3. Played by Elizabeth Mitchell, Limbrey is a rich Charlestonian searching for the enormous golden cross that was central to Season 2’s plot. However, she wasn’t looking for the cross at all: she was looking for a piece of cloth inside.

See, Carla Limbrey is extremely ill with a disease known as Generic Plot Device (GPD). GPD causes the regular symptoms you’d expect, including limping, light coughs, and delusions of grandeur. However, given the rapidly increasing symptoms of Limbrey’s GPD, she’s actively searching for the supposedly magic shroud inside the Cross of Santo Domingo.

(A quick note about Outer Banks: no magic exists in this world, though many characters believe in it/destiny.)

By the end of Season 2, while the cross has been stolen by the Cameron family, Limbrey seeks out some help of her own: Big John Routledge (Charles Halford), who was thought to have been killed at the beginning of Season 1, kicking off the whole damn plot.

Who Is Carla Limbrey on Outer Banks Season 3?

Given this set-up, you’d think Limbrey would be a major character in Season 3. Spoiler: you would be wrong. Whether it was because of Mitchell’s busy schedule or otherwise, the former Big Bad barely appears in Season 3. We see her briefly towards the beginning trying to find the shroud with Big John. He then evades her, and goes on some escapades of her own.

Later on, Big John and his son John B (Chase Stokes) head over to Limbrey’s house under duress, and proceed to give her a fake version of the shroud, which heals her in — not to editorialize — probably the worst scene in three seasons of the show, because she immediately starts walking on her own and the Johns get away with it. And that’s the last of Limbrey we see, at least until Season 4. Yikes!

Who Is Elizabeth Mitchell, Who Plays Carla Limbrey on Outer Banks Season 3?

You might recognize Elizabeth Mitchell in Season 3 of Outer Banks from her prior appearance in Season 2 of Outer Banks?? But also, Mitchell has been an in-demand actress for a long time, most notably playing Juliet on LOST. Following up on that, she had long runs on both the V reboot, and Revolution. She’s also pretty well known for her role as Mrs. Claus in the Santa Clause series, including the recent Disney+ series. And Netflix fans might recognize her from her similar-to-Outer Banks role on First Kill.