Chase Stokes is photographed by Mekhi Turner for The Artchive Magazine. 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.