Does Rudy Pankow return as JJ in Outer Banks season 5? (The answer may surprise you)

Will Rudy Pankow be back for the final season of Outer Banks? That is the question that has been on the mind of every Outer Banks fan since the shocking events of the season 4 finale. 

The penultimate season of Outer Banks ended with the show’s most shocking and heartbreaking death when JJ’s life was cut short at the hands of his biological father, Chandler Groff. It was a moment that left fans in shock, and the pain only intensified further when it was revealed that Outer Banks would come to an end with season 5. The idea of not seeing JJ in the final season was devastating, but there was hope that perhaps the show would find a way to at least keep JJ alive in spirit and find a way to incorporate a cameo from Pankow. After all, we’ve seen characters return in the past after their deaths. 

Showrunner Jonas Pate even stirred the pot in postmortem interviews, telling outlets such as Cosmopolitan that the show would "never say never" to a possible return of Pankow for the final season. 

Heading into the final season, there was a real sense of hope that JJ could make an appearance, but did the show actually find a way to bring Pankow back for the final season? 

Warning: Outer Banks season 5 spoilers ahead. 

Rudy Pankow does not appear in Outer Banks season 5, at least in any new footage

Sadly, Rudy Pankow does not make an appearance in the final season of Outer Banks and did not film any new scenes for the show’s last season. While JJ plays a major role in the final season and his spirit is felt throughout the final ten episodes, we don’t get any new footage of JJ over the course of the season—or rather, of Pankow as JJ. 

While we don’t get to see any new scenes featuring Pankow, the show does incorporate a handful of flashback scenes, including the first time Kiara and JJ met one another as kids. As these flashbacks turn back the clock to when Kiara and JJ were kids, Madison Bailey and Pankow do not play their respective characters in the scenes. Instead, Netflix brought in younger actors to play Kiara and JJ for the flashbacks. 

It’s definitely nice to see those scenes of Kiara and JJ as kids, but those flashbacks only made us want an actual new scene with JJ and Kiara that much more. 

What is really strange is that there were a few moments when it seemed like the show was actually going to give fans a surprise cameo from Pankow; those teases never went anywhere at all, which was really frustrating. Even in episode 9, when Kiara uses the crown to summon the spirit of JJ, the show relies upon archival footage from past seasons and flashbacks with the child actors rather than actually giving fans a final scene between Pankow and Bailey. 

That moment, in particular, felt like a major missed opportunity, and we imagine it’s one that fans will be quite frustrated with. We know there were some viral feud rumors during the fourth season and that Bailey and Pankow might not get along off-screen; it would have been nice if the show could have found a way for Pankow to film a new scene of some kind even if he wasn’t actually on set filming alongside Bailey or anyone from the cast. When Kiara sees his spirit, the show could have easily included a scene of JJ appearing before Kiara and saying a final goodbye to assure her that he was okay. Instead, we get flashbacks with a young actor playing JJ, recycled footage, and an orb of light to represent JJ in the final season.

We certainly loved the final season's tributes to JJ and the way the show honored the character's legacy, but it was disappointing that there was no appearance from Pankow in the final season of the show that helped to launch his career.

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