A lot has happened since Outer Banks' dramatic season 1 finale last April — an election, a vaccine, and a ton of toothache-inducing sweet Madelyn Cline x Chase Stokes content. But ever since the Pogues returned to our screens for season 2, a lot of fans have been feeling an unsettling amount of déjà vu.
Last year, when fans were first captivated by the story of Netflix's treasure-hunting teenagers on North Carolina's seafront, many in the U.S. had only just begun quarantining due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was easy to truly get lost in and transported by a show as real life became increasingly stagnant and difficult to face. Now, of course, we're in many ways far ahead of where we were back then. But as the threat of the Delta variant increases every day, some feel an eerie sense that history is repeating itself.
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covid is on the rise… everyone’s watching outer banks again… I’m getting deja vu😭
— Candy P (@candace_mariaa) August 2, 2021
@joshadamek2 This is some serious deja vu ##outerbanks ##obx ##obxseason2 ##outerbanksnetflix ##covid ##delta ##outerbanksseason2
♬ Bo Burnham made me cry - Tik Toker
Olivia Rodrigo's Deja Vu but instead it's about binging Outer Banks indoors while a new pandemic rages on outside
— skylar (@Sky_Elysse) August 2, 2021
masks are back…outer banks is back….people are getting sick on cruise ships….i’m feeling a little bit of deja vu to early quarantine
— carrie is in her HGS era 😎💃🏻🧃 (@carriecres) July 30, 2021
Coincidence? Yes. Definitely.
But still, fans are joking (*nervous laughter* — they are joking, right?) that the correlation between the series and the rise of COVID in its various forms is some greater conspiracy.
I figured it out, Netflix spread the delta variant to boost OBX2 views. Outer banks season 1 came out when the pandemic first started and now season 2 comes out right around the time we boutta go back into lockdown. Sus
— Ferb (@TheOllieOpp) July 30, 2021
But even the cast members themselves have been reflecting on the weird passage of time since the show first aired. In a recent video interview with Vogue, Cline, who plays Sarah Cameron on the show, explained that because OBX dropped during quarantine, they could only really get a sense of what the show's reception was like through the internet.
"We could only really gauge how it was going through social media," Cline said. "People were posting about it on TikTok... It was so funny, I'd be scrolling through my "For You" page, and there would just be videos about Outer Banks and characters. Same with the "Discovery" page on Instagram, and people posting memes about it. We were all quarantined in my apartment." She and co-star slash boyfriend Stokes (who plays John B.), then detailed watching the opening credits of the show together at Cline's place, noting how surreal it all was.
So...about that season 3.