Outer Banks. Madison Bailey as Kiara in episode 501 of Outer Banks.
COURTESY OF NETFLIX
Netflix has released the final season of Outer Banks, with season 5 mercifully not split in half and stretched over two months. Netflix has done that a lot recently with big shows, but opted out this time for everyone’s benefit. And that’s a good move, it turns out, given how much fans seem to appreciate this finale.
There are, surprisingly, not nearly enough reviews in for a Rotten Tomatoes score on either the critic or audience side. Four critic reviews are in, giving it a 100% with more takes likely to come over time.
On IMDB, meanwhile, where more fans go to express their enthusiasm and disdain for shows, the response is very promising. In fact, Outer Banks season 5 has set a record on IMDB for the series.
Outer Banks season 5 is the only season of the series to have two episodes hit a 9 or above — a 9 for ninth episode and a 9.1 for the tenth episode, indicating satisfaction for the series finale. That’s always a tough thing for TV shows to accomplish. For context, here are the top three episodes of each season:
Outer Banks season 1 – 8.5, 8.3, 8.2Outer Banks season 2 – 8.7, 8.6, 8.3Outer Banks season 3 – 8.5, 8.2, 7.8Outer Banks season 4 – 8.2, 8.1, 7.8Outer Banks season 5 – 9.1, 9, 8.6
Outer Banks. (L to R) Jonathan Daviss as Pope, Chase Stokes as John B in episode 503 of Outer Banks
JACKSON LEE DAVIS/NETFLIX
Season 5 starts off slow, with the first three episodes earnings scores below 8. But the scores increases every episode from episode 4 through the finale. Granted, the superfans who have watched the entire season in a day may be more prone to rate it higher. Still, if superfans are satisfied, that’s good news.
Outer Banks was a rare show to have a pretty tight release date window. In just over six years, from mid-2020 to August 2026, we’ve gotten five seasons and 50 episodes. That is rare these days.
So, is Outer Banks over, over? Well, about that. While there will be no season 6 for Outer Banks, and the remaining cast is departing, there has been a prequel series, Kildare, in the works for a while. It is set 20 years before the events of Outer Banks and explores the origins of the social divide in the area. Treasure hunting is likely involved too, of course. A script is coming together, but it has no announced cast or release window yet. We’ll see if we get any more information on that after the series finale settles.
Follow me on Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.
Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.