‘Outer Banks’ Season 3: That Kiss Between Jonathan Daviss and Carlacia Grant Wasn’t in the Original Script

One of the best parts of Outer Banks Season 3 has to be Pope (Jonathan Daviss) finally eking out a win. After watching our boy lose the Cross of Santo Domingo, his academic dreams, and his girlfriend, this season finally gives Pope a couple of Ws. But the big moment between Pope and his new love interest Cleo (Carlacia Grant) wasn’t originally planned in the script. Spoilers ahead.

“It was one of those things where, obviously, we weren’t supposed to kiss in Episode 10. That was not written in the script at all,” Grant told Decider.

In the midst of the chaos of “Secret of Gnomon,” Pope and Cleo are separated from the rest of their friends. While they’re alone, Cleo has a rare moment of vulnerability. Scared that she may not get another chance, she tells him that during their last few months together she’s learned there can be more to life than just survival. She then quits their No Love Club before kissing him. It’s a sweet scene that delivers on the chemistry that’s been building between them all season.

“We really fought for [the kiss]. I was like, ‘We’ve been playing around with this for so long, and I feel like our characters are ready to do it.’ So on the day we were just like, ‘Well, we’re just gonna kiss, and then they’ll just have to tell us to stop,'” Grant said.

Ultimately, that plan wasn’t necessary. Right before they were about to film their rebellious kiss, series co-creator Jonas Pate told Daviss and Grant they had changed the script to include a kiss. Daviss sees the moment as a major stepping stone for his character.

“Pope had that kind of childhood crush, I would say, on Kiara [Madison Bailey] at the beginning,” Daviss said. “I feel like when you hang out in a group of friends, the person you see every day, you just end up kinda having a crush.”

Daviss continued that, “he really had to learn this season: take the high road, get over yourself, and keep moving forward, and that’s it. That’s a big thing for a kid to have to go through. Luckily he has Cleo to help him through that. He slowly starts to learn ‘Oh, more than anything you want somebody who will support you, will bring you out of your funk. They have that No Love Club, and they find each other. They’ve both been heartbroken, and it was really cool to get to play that.”

“It just really happened organically, just with me and Jonathan as friends,” Grant said. “We want to represent — and we speak about with our characters — represent Black love. So we really wanted to like put a lot of effort into making sure this storyline was real and honest and something that people can aspire to. Seeing the representation in this way was really, really important to us. We’re really happy how it came out.”