Chase Stokes: X Marks The Spot
For Chase Stokes, X marks the spot right at the shoreline between his wrist and hand, where “I told the sunset about you” is etched in ink. After wrapping filming 50 episodes of Outer Banks over the course of seven years, it would be fair to assume that Stokes might be feeling a little stranded. But as we chat about his expedition towards his directorial debut, I Told the Sunset About You, he’s resolute that there’s treasure where he’s headed. He can feel it surfacing as goosebumps; the same feeling he and his castmates had after season one of Outer Banks, when it was simply “a little boat show.” But after spending years as John B., learning to paddle along the way, he knows only a fool tries to control the course or the current. So whether he’s in a beat-up jalopy from a recurring dream or a NASCAR racing toward his next project, Thunder Road, he has more than enough fuel in his tank.
This article is taken from the September 2026 issue of The Artchive Magazine:
Hello! How has your week been?
Myweek has been good. I am in Atlanta, prepping for a new project. It's just hot as shit down here. If I'm being so honest, I just got out of the pool four minutes ago.
I can’t stand the heat. I need it to be a cool 60 degrees.
It's the humidity that sends me to the moon, which is ridiculous of me to say, having been in Charleston shooting Outer Banks for seven years through every summer, which is hotter than here.
Speaking of Outer Banks, I watched the final season this week and just finished this morning. You know that feeling when you watch a movie early in the day and when you leave the theatre you feel like you entered another dimension? I feel a bit like that right now.
Yeah, like, “Where am I right now?”
Exactly. You often say that your whole goal is to tell stories and allow audiences the escapism we need from daily life. What is a recent moment when a piece of media truly felt like escapism to you?
Oh, that is a great question. In a twisted, fucked up way, I just watched Cape Fear. The same thing happened to me; I finished it this morning, so that was a weird way to start the day. We see so much redeveloped IP that when we see an original idea, it’s so refreshing. We saw it with Obsession and Backrooms. There has been this new wave of original ideas coming back into the fold. That's what draws me in as a storyteller. A lot of that comes down to characters. We want to go on a journey with people we can relate to. Specificity is broad, so the more specific the character can get, the broader the audience.
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Is escapism more difficult when you are in the industry and see how the magic is made?
I have to put myself in the right place to enjoy it. More often than not, especially getting into the director's chair and developing my first project, I am so hyper-aware of things. I saw The Odyssey the other night at an 11:30 pm showing, which was a terrible idea, because I was up until three in the morning. But in a film like that, we're watching arguably the greatest ever to do it give a master class in filmmaking. So I try my best not to be hyper aware, whether it's ADR in the wrong places or continuity errors. But it is unfortunately like athletes watching their sport after they retire. They are three steps ahead because it was their profession.
You mentioned The Odyssey as a masterclass, and I know you have said you once considered TheActors’ Roundtable your learning ground. Last issue, an actor told us that he learned to navigate industry language through those programs as well. Is there anything you remember specifically that stuck with you?
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CHASE’S own carpenter pants
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So much. Early on in your career, you're just scraping by and pinching pennies. A lot of your money is going to rent, food, and acting classes, if possible. But for me, a lot was going towards those first two and gas in LA because we know how expensive that is. I would watch Actors on Actors or The Actors’ Roundtable because they were free. I would take away how a working actor walks, talks, and sounds, and how they approach their life. I think it's a very underused tool, and it’s cool to hear that you just spoke with someone else who's utilized it. You get such an in-depth experience of how actors and artists talk to one another.
Interestingly, your major takeaway was also “the actor’s language.” So, in some way, did it ever feel like learning to play “the role of an actor” as well?
That’s so meta of you. Yes and no. I think initially, a lot of people try to walk the straight line of navigating the industry. As you become a public figure, you realize there's a lot of responsibility put on your shoulders that you're unaware of. All of a sudden, you have a lot of people looking up to you, from the lens of idolizing a fictional character. They are following your fictional character’s choices, and it could be the way they want to live their life. So you take on a lot of responsibility to show up in the right ways. The other side of that coin is that nobody really prepares you for that. When you're around creatives, the shield we put on for the real world sometimes slips away. You're in a room of people who take the craft very seriously. So I think in those examples, more so, you have less of the armor on you.
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That makes a lot of sense. You have also said that Outer Banks was very much about learning on the fly. You have now filmed five seasons, and your character is so lived-in. Is there anything that you were surprised to still learn about John B. or about being on set?
Getting to do 50 episodes of TV is such a rarity, so I think sometimes the writers at that point are trying to find things that catch the audience off guard or have a character make a choice that could throw the audience in a different direction. It’s like, “I’ve known John B. for this many years, why would he do that?” Early on in the season, he chooses to steal the bale of weed, and it puts Sarah in a very fucked up position. In season four, he was very careful. In season five, he hits rock bottom and makes this choice. I didn’t see that coming, which was fun after 40 or so episodes with this character. He's always on the verge of doing something stupid, but JJ always took that baton and ran with it. In season five, we see a little bit of the quippy humor that JJ once had in John B. and his choices. I leaned into it as him mourning the loss of his friend and making sure that he survives. It's such a two-handed thing.
I'm such a film nerd now. I love the filmmaking process and am developing and directing projects. Outer Banks has been a film school on steroids. It's not just showing up to work and getting sides. It's about saying something isn’t going to work and making it make sense. It is about flipping a scene because of weather issues. There are so many variables, especially when shooting overseas. There is such a tight time window. If we are in Croatia and it rains, we have to edit, adjust, and find something interior. I listened to the murmurs of production and had conversations with Jonas [Pate] and Carole Peterman, our Unit Production Manager, and understand how quickly everybody has to shift on their toes. I couldn't ask for a better environment to learn the craft, and I have such an appreciation for a film crew.
shirt TODD SNYDER
CHASE’S own carpenter pants
leather belt DOLCE & GABBANA
chain PATTARAPHAN
I want to touch on a few things you said there, especially your venture into directing, but you also mentioned how JJ’s death impacts John B. this season. In season five, we see how grief affects each character uniquely. You already said a little bit, but how do you uniquely view John B.’s relationship with grief?
There's nothing light about death, but given the show’s pace, you have to move on. With the plot driving as heavy as it is, it's really important to find moments to layer in that grief. Even though the treasure hunt is still happening, you are seeing humanity within that. John B. hasn't just lost his best friend; he lost his brother, his dad, his home, and now he has no job and no money. In the midst of chaos, grief still has to live. You can't deny the humanistic truth of what they've all experienced. It was a fun challenge to find moments for John B. to grieve. I played with the idea that his version of grieving is doing something or saying something in a way that JJ might to keep his memory alive. I got a little more freedom this season to play into the quippiness.
In you mentioning that, the safe scene in Topper’s house with Pope is one of my favorites. It’s so well done and funny. There is a great balance because I also loved the scenes between John B. and Kie, when they talk about the crown’s potential powers. He really allowed for silence without judgment and, at times, sort of let her take ownership over the grief. But I really liked the silence in a lot of those scenes because you could hear the unspoken conversation.
Transparently, there was initially much more John B. was supposed to say in those moments. In the script, John B. was a little more pessimistic towards Kie’s ideas, but I had some heavy conversations and got to a really healthy point with our writers to say what I thought. I think John B. doesn’t want to believe [in the crown’s power], but he has a glimmer of hope. And you don't want to step on somebody else's experience to mourn the loss of somebody that is mutually loved. Pope is sort of saying, “Stop. Enough of this.” Cleo's got her own version, and Sarah's warmer and comforting. John B. is letting it exist with Kie and is making sure she's not unraveling too much. He is in cahoots enough to want to believe. It’s like when you see a shooting star and make a wish even though you know that’s entirely bullshit. But it’s keeping that pulse alive. John B. and Kie have such a beautiful history together, and their friendship is super intertwined from the very beginning of the show. It’s really the most beautiful male/female friendship, which is such a cool thing to show in a young adult show. So I wanted to make sure John B. wasn’t falling in line with every other character, because an ensemble can easily gang up on someone. I wanted him to stay in the lane of respecting her grief and being part of it, but not taking over or letting her unravel too far.
I am really glad that those conversations happened and that the dialogue was removed because, as a viewer, the silent understanding and quiet diversion from the rest of the group was really impactful. I wrote down a quote from John B. this season that struck me: “You can’t recreate the past. And whatever you thought the future would bring will probably be something else.” Having wrapped Outer Banks, how do you personally relate to this sentiment?
Where we started Outer Banks and where it has ended are so vastly different. I look back on the first summer of the show so fondly. There was no expectation and no real sense of the monkey on your back, so to speak. We had a blast, and it really was this little boat show. To see it as it is now was so unpredictable. Life has taken shape the way it has, and it’s really interesting to see how the more you try to control or hold on to beauty from the past, the more it takes you away from the potential of what the future can be. It's been a huge lesson for me to be open to the world and not anticipate anything. The more we try to anticipate, the more we lose our sense of self in the present. I think that's just true as a human, an artist, a brother, a son, and a friend.
shirt DANDY DEL MAR
leather pants JONATHAN SIMKHAI
leather belt DOLCE & GABBANA
chain PATTARAPHAN
How does that lesson manifest in your approach to directing now?
One of the things that I will forever take away from this chapter of my life is that no idea is a bad idea unless it's not presented. I believe that this is the most beautiful collaborative art form on this planet. There are so many people doing so many things at any given moment, and it takes a village to create a film or a TV show. Everybody's voice matters. It's just about making something as authentically as possible, and figuring out how to tell a story that matters. Anytime I feel that flutter in my heart, goosebumps, or a pit in my stomach, I trust that intuition a bit because inherently, we all had that feeling after the end of the first season. I don’t think we knew what it meant. In hindsight, we’re all like, “Oh, that’s that feeling.” It’s subconscious awareness that something hyperspecific you did is going to amass a broad connection. I am forever grateful for that, because, early in my career, it was very “Pick me. Choose me. Love me.” I wanted someone to look at me and allow me to show that I can do it. Now, it’s less of that. I am more prepared for collaboration than I have ever been.
You mentioned trusting that specificity is broad; The project you are directing is about a recurring dream that you had for years?
When I first moved to LA, I kept having this dream…[shows tattoo on forearm] I have a “I Told the Sunset About You” tattoo on my forearm because I was like, “If I get it tattooed here, then I’ll always look at it, and I’ll be forced to make it into a movie.” It was a dream of an old jalopy going down a dirt road, and a shot of a guy and a girl through the rearview mirror. You could feel the blue and red lights from the cop cars behind. Then it pulls out to a drone shot, and you see them being chased by 30 cop cars. I was like, “I don’t know what this means, but if I’m having this dream a lot, I should do something with it.” So I started writing it, and it really turned into a very different story over time.
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I come from a mother who is the most badass human being on this planet, and my grandmother was really involved in my upbringing. I've always been really fascinated by very strong-willed, independent women, and the journey of motherhood and the biological clock that women experience in their 30s. It’s like, “Oh wow, our body is not our friend when it comes to childbirth.” Maybe, for women, they are ready to have kids, but their body is saying otherwise. I wanted to incorporate those things. I knew that as a straight white man, that was not my story to write. Over the past year, I've worked with a kick-ass writer. Her name is Melissa Goodall, and she wrote one of my favorite scripts I've ever read in my life. I was like, “I have to work with her.” She's just a fucking genius. Somehow, after doing a studio project, we got on a Zoom, and I pitched her the idea. I told her she could take the reins, and again, that there is no bad idea. It has shifted even more, and it is this really cool Bonnie and Clyde meets Thelma & Louise story. It follows a girl in her mid-to-late thirties deciding whether she wants to be a mother.
It’s a very specific story that I think will have a broad audience because many women can understand it. And men who have walked that journey with their partners through egg retrieval, IVF, or infertility can understand. It’s such a common thread today. It feels like a necessary, unique story that’s embedded in the American culture that is close to my heart. It has been cool to go from this recurring dream to getting it fully financed to having producers and writers take me seriously. Five years ago, I was just this kid on this little boat show.
Wow, congratulations on that. It does sound like a story a lot of people can deeply connect with, and that is amazing to be working with a female writer who impacted you when you read her script. You mentioned your tattoo, so I have a tattoo-based question. You have a “Dear Me” tattoo; With Outer Banks coming to a close and so many new doors opening, what is a “Dear Me” statement you would make to yourself right now?
Great question. I would say, "Dear me, any and everything that has happened — experiences, highs and lows, peaks and pits, as I'd like to call them — are all a part of this journey on this floating rock. The good, the bad, the ugly, and the beautiful are all necessary to get you to where you are going. And where that is, who knows? And that's okay.
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I love that. I hope you have a good rest of your day and don’t burn in the heat too badly!
I've got to get my shit together because I'm going to race NASCARs tomorrow to prep for this role!
Photography: Mekhi Turner
Interview: Tessa Swantek
Grooming: Candice Birns with Forward Artists
Stylist: Ilaria Urbinati
This story features in Issue 3 of The Artchive Magazine which is on sale on Early September 2026. Pre-order here.