EXCLUSIVE: Madelyn Cline and Madison Bailey Talk Outer Banks Season 3, Sarah’s Mom, Valentine’s Day & More w/ BB

To celebrate the release of Season 3 of Outer Banks, we got the chance to sit down with Madelyn Cline (Sarah) and Madison Bailey (Kiara) to chat the new season.

During our chat, we talked the Season 3 finale, Sarah’s mom, their characters’ Valentine’s Day plans, and so much more. Check out what they had to say below.

Both of your characters go through some really fun yet interesting things this season. Were you guys surprised at what each of your characters tackled this season?
Bailey: “I was prepared for them to write something insane and they followed through and I think I’m just happy. I feel we delivered. I think we came out with a great season.”
Cline: “I agree. I remember talking with Jonas Pate, one of our showrunners and often our director, co-writer last season, season two. And I was like, ‘What are we going to do next time? How do they get out of this? How does it get bigger?’ Because Jonas’ thing is always bigger, more and more, more action, more blood, more sweat, more drama. And he looked at me, he was like, ‘I don’t know.’ And I was like, ‘Well, okay, we’ll see.’ But they always deliver. They always deliver somehow. I’m really proud of this season because I feel like everything was so good. Our cinematographers are incredible. It looks beautiful and then the story’s heightened and I’m really excited about it.”

I feel like you guys outdid yourselves this season.
Cline: “Yeah.”
Bailey: “Thanks.”

The Outer Banks has almost acted as its own character these past two seasons and now in Season 3 we are in a new location. What was that like for you guys to spend this season filming in a new location?
Bailey: “There’s a lot of parallel between the island life that we’re living in the Outer Banks and then the island life that we see in Barbados. I think that it carries the theme and taking us out of the actual Outer Banks shows that the theme of Outer Banks is broader than the city. It’s more talking about a lifestyle and a dynamic between the Kooks of the world and the Pogues. And that means it’s not just in the Outer Banks, it’s everywhere. Which I think it was cool too to be on location.”
Cline: “I liked it too. I was a little nervous because I felt the same way. Before we got out of the Outer Banks physically in the show, I didn’t know how it tied to other locations. And I think that was the whole point was that Outer Banks is a mindset, it’s this group of friends. Even though it’s called Outer Banks, the show is truly about the friendship and the adventure and that carries. It’s not just a set place.”

I feel like the new location allowed each of your characters to grow in a different way and face new and interesting obstacles. Coming into this season, do you feel like you have more in say your characters’ journeys or do you still leave everything up to the writers?
Bailey: “I think it’s a little bit of both. I trust our writers with my character, of course, they created it and as much as I trust them, they trust me. Knowing this character and developing her over the last three, four years, there will be moments where we’ll have a guest director and we’re very much trusted with the say in what’s best for our character. I think it’s a mutual trust between the writers and actors.”

Has there ever been a time where you put your foot down and said, “Nope, not doing that. She does not do that.”
Cline: “I’ve had a couple. 99.8% of the time is a complete and utter collaboration, and then the other .02% of the time are instances that I feel incredibly strongly about. There was a scene in the first season where after Sarah loses her virginity, I wanted it to feel a little bit more empowered on her end and they listened. And I think because they trust us with our characters and as much as we trust them, and I think ultimately the goal is to tell the story as well as possible. And just little things too, because we are closer in age to our characters than I think our writers are.”
Bailey: “They understand small moments like that.”
Cline: “Yeah. It’s not like we’re trying to change the historian, the structure altogether. I think it’s just little things where we can add input that adds value to characters and development.”

How far into pre-production do you guys get the new scripts? Or is it just couple of days before you start filming?
Bailey: “We get the scripts as we’re going or as they’re ready and finalized. But I think our jaw drops multiple times throughout filming the season because we are going with the flow a lot of the time.”
Cline: “My favorite thing is getting… So, drafts are colored by colors, so you’ll get blue, yellow, green, pink, and then when they start running out of colors and they’ll give you a draft like salmon”.
Bailey: “You start getting more creative colors.”
Cline: “It’s just so funny to watch how many colors we go through and when I get a salmon draft, I’m like, ‘Okay, we’re close to shooting this.’ We’re a couple days out. It’s time for me to really do some detail.”
Bailey: “These are the lines to learn. We’re getting close.”

Each of your play such powerful, badass women. What is it like being able to portray these powerful characters?
Bailey: “I feel extremely proud to be portraying a badass young woman who is pioneering her own life. I feel like Kiara is very set in her ways and found herself and knows herself better than a lot of people at that age. When her parents are telling her like, ‘You should be doing this,’ she’s very firm and very true in who she is and leads with that spirit and is always pushing unity. I feel extremely proud and honored to have to be portraying that character that young girls can look up to.”
Cline: “I feel the exact same. Sarah comes from a different point of view where Kiara is very, very strong-minded and very, very opinionated. I think Sarah is probably just beginning her journey in that regard and just getting to know herself and not to discredit the fact that Kiara is growing and learning as well, but I think Sarah’s still learning. The show begins in her transition into a very, very big change in her life. You see her grow with that, which is hard and it’s scary for teenage girls and adult women alike. You go through a really big change in your life and it’s uncomfortable. And I think it’s important. Empowerment also means learning how to feel things and learning how to process things and live through discomfort and come out on the other side better for it.”

Well, we leave the season in quite an interesting way, setting up for more to come. With the Season 4 renewal in the bag, what would you guys like to see happen in the next season?
Bailey: “Nothing in too specific, because I’m so broad and it goes back into the trust with the writers. I know whatever they create is going to be amazing. I hope we fill in the blanks of that 18 month time jump. Soi much had to have unfolded during that time, and I can’t wait to see that with how they’re living happily now and then how that transitions into this new job opportunity really. Which I think will be a huge step for the Pogues and their maturing. They’re finding an avenue for their love of treasure, which is cool.”

I love that whole aspect of the show, the treasure hunting and just that research that has gone into bringing that storyline to life. Has that aspect of the show made either of you more interested in treasure hunting?
Bailey: “Maybe if I thought I had a chance of finding treasure. But that is one of my favorite parts of the show, and I think season three we get way more in depth into the history and the storyline of where the gold came from, which is cool.”

To change it up a little bit, Valentine’s Day was just last week, what would each of your characters be doing on Valentine’s Day?
Bailey: “Protesting Valentine’s Day?”
Cline: “Accurate.”
Bailey Kiara would think it’s all that. Yeah. It’s capitalism. She’s like, ‘This is just for candy sales.’ I don’t think she’d be into Valentine’s Day.”
Cline: “I love that. Sarah would be the opposite. Sarah would be playing right into it. Right into it. I feel like she would expect like, ‘John we need to do something special.’ She wouldn’t say it, but she would expect it. Flowers minimum. I need a kook treatment or she needs a kook treatment for Valentine’s. That’s what I think she would expect.”
Bailey: “I know Kiara is not thinking JJ’s bringing her flowers, so I mean… Unless he just picked them, he like, ‘Here you go.’ And I think Kiara would love that.

Well as we wrap up our chat, you’ve both been talking about this show for the past three seasons, what is something that you’ve never talked about that you’ve always wanted to talk about?
Cline: “I want to talk about where Sarah’s mom is. Where’s my mom? Where’s Sarah’s mom? Where is my mother? No one ever explicitly says if she’s dead or alive, which in TV terms means that she’s alive.”
Bailey: “Yes. They’re never dead until you see a dead body. And even then they’re still real.”
Cline: “So I want to know what’s going on with Sarah’s mom and I feel like it could be a really cool thing to explore. Maybe she was in on it too, or I don’t know. There’s some missing pieces to different characters, like in JJ’s mother as well. I don’t know. But I think it’d be nice to see that part of Sarah. I haven’t really explored that because I don’t know, I just know she has a stepmom.”

I feel like I know the answer already to this, but have you asked?
Cline: “Yes.”

What’s the answer you got?
Cline: “’I don’t know’. That’s the answer.
Bailey: “Maybe they’re keeping things under wraps for us. I think they do that.”
Cline: “I know it’s fully planned. They probably have a whole Bible.”
Bailey: “Seasons four through eight mapped out.”

Season 3 of Outer Banks is now out on Netflix!

*This interview has been edited for length and clarity*