Outer Banks creators scrap plan to end show after 5 seasons: ‘We’re going to take it as long as we can’

Outer Banks season 3 is now just hours away from premiering, but the creators of the hit Netflix series are already looking ahead — far, far ahead.

The teen series first premiered in 2020 and was an instant success, with fans loving the beachy location of the OBX and the easy-to-root for Pogues, the main characters living on the island. From John B’s search to find buried treasure and his presumed-dead father, to the ongoing feud between the Pogues and the Kooks, there’s a lot of action and drama to keep up with each season. And the upcoming 10 new episodes are no exception.

Ahead of the Outer Banks season 3 release, Netflix renewed the show for a fourth season during their Poguelandia event on Feb. 18, a fan festival full of musical guests and some of the biggest cast members. The sky’s the limit for the series, and creators Josh Pate, Jonas Pate, and Shannon Burke just spoke with Entertainment Weekly about how long they see it lasting.

Netflix, unfortunately, has a track record of canceling shows after one or two seasons just as people start to get invested, so it’s hard to predict how long they’ll let Outer Banks continue. But if it’s up to the creators, they’ll go to season 17 (and maybe even more)!

How many seasons will Outer Banks have?

According to the creators, they initially planned for Outer Banks to run for four or five seasons, but with the fourth season renewal confirmed and the amount of success the series has seen, they’ve changed their minds. Josh Pate shared:

"“I don’t know if I could put a real number on it right now — how long it takes to get to that ending might expand, but we now know the shape of the end of the story. We’re going to take it as long as we can, for sure.”"

In response, Jonas Pate joked: “In season 17, we’ll be on Mars.”

This is obviously fantastic news for Outer Banks fans, who don’t want the show to end anytime soon. Considering what a mega hit the teen drama is, we could see Netflix keeping this one around for the long haul. At least we know the creators are down. The only potential issue might be whether or not the main cast, which is made up of twentysomethings, are willing.

For now, we can all be excited that we have multiple new seasons to come, with Outer Banks season 3 premiering this Thursday, Feb. 23 at 12:00 a.m PT / 3:00 a.m. ET, and Outer Banks season 4 is confirmed to come after that.