‘Outer Banks’ Stars Chase Stokes and Madelyn Cline Break Down That Cheating Plot: “I Was Really, Really Nervous”

From its very first episode, Outer Banks has been just as obsessed with romance as it is with treasure. That’s why what happens between John B (Chase Stokes) and Sarah Cameron (Madelyn Cline) is so shocking. After fighting evil fathers, driving boats into storms, and surviving a deserted island, Season 3 pushes this couple to their absolute limit. Spoilers ahead.

“I was really, really nervous,” Cline told Decider.

In Outer Banks’ third season, John B and Sarah Cameron’s fortunes flip. After being reunited with his father, John B is the one who feels stable in OBX, whereas Sarah — distanced from her father and her family — is left without a home or even a stable support system. But instead of helping her, John B immediately devotes all of his attention to Big John (Charles Halford). Pushed to the edge, left with nowhere to go, and all but abandoned by the boyfriend she sacrificed everything to be with, Sarah does the unthinkable: she cheats on John B with her former Kook boyfriend, Topper (Austin North).

“I was like, ‘If we’re gonna do this, Sarah needs to have grounds to be confused.’ And so I spoke to the writers, and we devised like a storyline that we felt like made sense for someone who doesn’t really have a home anymore, is feeling like she’s on the fritz with her friends,” Cline said. “Her family is kind of insane, and so truly just trying to grasp what feeling lost feels like. And then when you lose the one thing that you can hold on to, explore how that feels.”

Cline wasn’t the only one dedicated to making this betrayal feel authentic. North tried to keep Topper’s perspective in mind while playing these scenes. Before Topper sees Sarah in Season 3, he isn’t even sure if she’s still alive.

“I think he wants her to be safe and happy at the end of the day. I don’t think he was really trying too hard to win her back or get her back,” North said. “But after all the emotions from the years of high school, romance did come back.. So Topper’s really going through an emotional rollercoaster in Season 3, for sure.”

As shocking as this subplot is, it ultimately made sense to the man behind the wronged party, Chase Stokes.

“I was like whoa. This is intense. But I also understood that, based on the way that he treats her in the episode prior — that was just a terrible thing for him to do,” Stokes said. “I don’t discredit her choice [even] a little bit. Topper gives her a safe space to go and treats her in a way that John B hadn’t been treating her. And sometimes you get caught in these situations where you find something new and fresh and exciting, and it makes sense. It’s also comfortable. The girl has been through literally hell and back through the past 20 episodes. Her dad has tried to kill her and kill me, and she comes back to the world and she’s trying to find a safe space. She goes to JJ’s [Rudy Pankow] house, she goes to Kiara’s [Madison Bailey] house, and nothing is available. So she finds this one thing that is comfortable, and mistakes are made.

“That’s the journey of being a teenager, sometimes,” Stokes added.

Ultimately, John B does forgive Sarah. During a heartfelt scene at the chateau he admits that he wasn’t there for her and that he understands why she did what she did. “I love the transparency because that’s what you need in relationships. You need to be honest, and you need to be transparent with the highs and lows of everything so they both know what they’re getting into,” Stokes said. “Part of being human and the human experience is accepting people for their flaws and being with them through their wins. So I think they knew what they were getting into, and they both made mistakes. But it’s about forgiveness, and accepting forgiveness when it comes.”

“I think this storyline challenged the three of us to really dig deep,” Cline said. “I’m really proud.”