‘Outer Banks’ Season 5 To Begin Filming in Spring 2025; Won’t Release on Netflix Until 2026

If you hope for a quick turnaround for Outer Banks season 5, you will be disappointed today. The filming schedule for the Netflix Original show’s fifth and final season has been outlined. Sadly, the show will skip a 2025 release entirely and is now expected to release sometime in 2026.

For quick context, Outer Banks is Netflix’s flagship teen drama series that has been on our screens since 2020. The show dropped its two-part fourth season of 10 episodes in October and November 2024. Shortly after the release of part 2, Netflix confirmed it had renewed the show for a fifth and final season. However, it didn’t divulge anything regarding episode count or release window information. 

In a new interview with Port City Daily, which operates in the Wilmington, North Carolina region—the show’s filming home—one of its creators outlined the production schedule for 2025. The interview is with Jonas Pate, who is starting a new production company and prepping to produce a new movie called Driver’s Ed. The movie will be filmed in the NC area in early 2025, and Bobby Farrelly will direct it. Netflix is not involved in this project. 

Outer Banks was mentioned several times with the news that Driver’s Ed will reportedly wrap filming ahead of Outer Banks season 5, which, according to the outlet, “begins shooting in the spring through the end of 2025.”

Backing up that Spring 2025 production start is a listing on ProductionList.com (FTIA Film & Television Industry Alliance), which states that its shoot date will begin on April 7th, 2025. Given that the website is sometimes unreliable (it stated Narnia is due to begin filming in January in New Zealand when it’s starting next summer in London), we were waiting for some news to back it up. 

Filming through the end of the year makes it almost impossible for the show to return in 2025. Given that we have to take into account post-production and localization, we’re realistically not expecting it to be back on our screens until mid-2026. 

Of course, Outer Banks fans have been accustomed to long waits for new seasons. The longest they’ve had to wait was for season 4, with a gap of 1 year and 7 months, undoubtedly not helped by the strikes of 2023 (prior waits were 1 year and 3 months and 1 year and six months). 

Also, in the interview, Jonas Pate provided some context as to why the show is ending, suggesting that the timing feels right given that the cast has been on this show for the past six years (filming began in 2019). “We don’t want to still be doing this and it looks like Chase Stokes is turning 40,” Pate told the local outlet. 

Are you disappointed in how long it’s going to take for Outer Banks season 5 to hit our screens? Let us know in the comments down below.