Warning: This article contains spoilers for Outer Banks Season 4!
External Banks highlights the history and local culture of North Carolina through its braggadocious teenage main characters, but was largely filmed in South Carolina. This season, External Banks takes viewers on a deep dive into the legend of Blackbeard, which details a real pirate who was killed near Ocracoke Island in 1718. Despite the show’s North Carolina roots, Many of the show’s iconic swamp scenes and more are filmed in South Carolina.
Since the 1st season of External Banksthe show incorporated ties to North Carolina, through characters’ last names, local businesses, and more. This season brought filming to the real Outer Banks of North Carolina, with a series of beach scenes filmed at North Carolina’s Fort Fisher State Recreation Area. However, a series of External Banks Treasure hunt scenes were filmed in South Carolina once again.
Poguelândia 2.0
The Pogues Commune in Season 4 was shot near Charleston
Poguelandia 2.0 in the 4th season of External Banks was shot near Charleston, South Carolina. The surf shop was built by the cast and crew, including series star Chase Stokes (via Netflix). Although the structure was built for the show, surf and bait shops are common local businesses for anglers in the Carolinas.
After the Pogues return home to Kildare Island with the gold they found in El Dorado, they find their treasure worth more than $1 million in cash. With their sudden wealth, the predominantly working class group uses their money to get out of their struggles. The group buys JJ’s foreclosed childhood home, building a surf and bait shop along the pier. The house and surf shop are nicknamed “Poguelandia 2.0” to mirror the desert island where the group began season 3 of External Banks stranded.
The communal living situation also has an herb garden. Poguelandia 2.0 also becomes the solution to John B.’s (Chase Stokes) homelessness, after he lost his father, Big John Routledge (Charles Halford) in El Dorado and his house was burned down by Rafe Cameron (Drew Starkey). in season 3.
The endurance race
The racing episode bought the crew a rare trip to filming in North Carolina
The Enduro bike race was filmed at Kure Beach in the Fort Fisher State Recreation Area in North Carolina. JJ Maybank (Rudy Pankow) bets the group’s last gold coin that he can win the dirt bike race against the wealthy Kooks, and ultimately loses in part due to his bike’s rudimentary mechanics.
While the race begins and ends on the North Carolina beach, the scenes filmed in the woods were filmed at the Copperhead Ranch in Rocky Point, North Carolina. The race ends with JJ losing what’s left of the group’s wealth to Topper Thornton (Austin North) of the rival Kook gang, putting them in a position to potentially lose their land.
Blackstone Mansion
Wes Genrette’s ancestral home was filmed in South Carolina
The mysterious Blackstone Manor, where the wealthy but haunted Wes Genrette (David Jensen) lives on land given to his family by the British Crown centuries before, has been shot up in Charleston, South Carolina. The real home is the Admiral’s House in Charleston’s G neighborhood and is a true historic landmark.
Genrette reveals to the Pogues that he fears his family is cursed, because his ancestor killed the legendary pirate Blackbeard nearby. Family members faced puzzling sudden deaths immediately after seeing the ghost of Blackbeard’s wife, Elizabeth Teach, who was buried without her precious amulet. It was lost in the shipwreck among the rest of Blackbeard’s treasure, which Genrette enlists the Pogues to find. Blackbeard’s amulet and treasure are the central hunt for External Banks season 4.
Kildare Hospital
The hyperbaric chambers where Kiara and JJ are placed were filmed at a Charleston-area hospital
After an altercation occurs underwater in search of Blackbeard’s treasure, JJ and Kiara Carrera (Madison Bailey) are hospitalized for “the bends,” slang for decompression sickness, a phenomenon in which dissolved gases (usually nitrogen) form bubbles. in the bloodstream and tissues. (through National Institute of Health). To treat decompression sickness, the pair are placed in a hyperbaric chamber for hours.
The hospital where the hyperbaric chamber scenes were filmed is located in May Forest State Park in Charleston, South Carolina. The hospital is located close to where Poguelandia and a number of other Season 4 scenes were filmed, adding realism to this season’s urgent driving scenes.
Charleston Church
The Pogues head to Charleston to look for clues about Blackbeard
The Pogues head to Charleston in Season 4 of External Banks in search of Blackbeard’s greatest treasure, the Blue Crown. As Charleston is the location of a number of historical landmarks associated with both Blackbeard and Colonial America, Pope Heyward’s (Jonathan Daviss) search takes the group south.
The catacomb in which Sarah (Madelyn Cline) and Pope are trapped in search of Blackbeard’s clues was filmed at the Old Exchange Building (Provost) in Charleston. The first interior scenes in which Sarah and Cleo (Carlacia Grant) try to distract the priest from Pope’s prodding were filmed in Unitarian Church, with the cemetery exterior shots of John B. bumping into his ancestor’s grave were filmed at the Circular Congregational Church. All these External Banks the locations were close to each other in Charleston, South Carolina.
The Moroccan beach
The Pogues go to Morocco in episode 9
When the Pogues try to get from South Carolina to Morocco in episode nine, they find themselves in rough waters more than once. Their boat initially gets stuck in the shallows of the Outer Banks and they have to get a new one. Although that scene, in which Rafe and Shoupe negotiate, was filmed near the coast of South Carolina, after traveling through a storm, they actually land on the beaches of Morocco.
The beach scenes were filmed on location in Morocco. The beach where the Pogues land and then JJ and Sarah disembark is Cap Hadid’s beach in real life. When the Pogues head inland in search of Groff, filming takes place in the city of Essaouira, Morocco. The city is one of the most popular filming destinations in the country and was already called Mogador, which is highlighted in the program. The scroll with the location of the Blue Crown is the Mogador Scroll.
Agapenta
Agapenta is not real
While the Pogues and mercenaries search for the Blue Crown in Morocco, everyone must reach the fictional city of Agapenta. Agapenta is a city created specifically for the series, but the scenes there were filmed in Morocco as well. External Banks filmed over six weeks in Ouarzazate, Moroccocity known as the “gate to the desert” due to its proximity to the Sahara desert, a substitute for Agapenta.
Morocco has long been a Hollywood filming location. Classics like Casablanca filmed in Morocco and, more recently, television programs such as Game of Thrones and The wizard they also filmed in the country. The first two seasons of Game of Thrones even filmed in some of the same cities as External Banks.
The Season 4 finale also hints at a potentially new location for the Pogues in Season 5 – Portugal. External Banks could film parts of his final season there, but will likely return to South Carolina as well.
Sources: Netflix, National Institute of Health
Outer Banks follows a group of teenagers in the Outer Banks of North Carolina as they discover a legendary treasure linked to the mysterious disappearance of the group leader’s father, leading to a series of dangerous and exciting adventures.