Creators reveal why Rudy Pankow’s JJ didn’t return via Blue Crown in Outer Banks season five

I’m sure a lot of people were hoping Rudy Pankow might somehow return as JJ Maybank in Outer Banks season five, so the creators have now explained whether there was ever a real plan to bring him back.

After all, the Blue Crown was supposedly capable of bringing someone back from the dead, and Kiara actually sees JJ during the season. So, did the Outer Banks creators ever have a plan to bring Rudy Pankow, aka JJ, back after he was killed off in season four?

In a new interview with Deadline, Shannon Burke explained, “Not in any corporeal, like not as a real person, but maybe in a dream sequence, sort of as it was.”

The Blue Crown was never really going to resurrect JJ

The whole season revolves around the Blue Crown and its supposed ability to bring back the dead. Kiara, JJ’s dad Chandler Groff and collector Finch all chase it because they believe it can resurrect someone they have lost.

That obviously makes you think if they are actually going to bring JJ back. But apparently not. The creators had always wanted Outer Banks to get close to supernatural territory without actually becoming a supernatural show.

Josh Pate explained, “We always knew that the show was not a supernatural show but some people believe supernatural things in the world, and these kids could believe in these myths without us actually crossing the line into actual magic, which we never wanted to do.”

Then Jonas Pate said, “But we felt like, to your point, Josh, it’s human to be superstitious, right? I mean, that’s what a lot of religion is. So we never thought about crossing the line, but we knew that we could have characters that could believe in those types of things, and it could motivate their actions.”

And Burke added, “We wanted to walk right up to the edge of that line, to the point of where some people believed that it was supernatural, and some people didn’t. We wanted to get right up to the edge of that line, but then not cross it.”

Kiara’s visions were deliberately left open

The creators still wanted to show parts of his history with Kiara, including when they first met. When asked whether they had spoken to Rudy about returning for those flashbacks, Josh Pate said, “Honestly, not really. We always knew we wanted to show when they first met. I don’t know, maybe glancingly, but it never got very serious.”

Instead, younger actors played young JJ and Kiara.

And after everything that happens, Kiara sees JJ beneath the meteor shower while holding the Blue Crown. But the show never actually confirms that JJ’s spirit has returned.

The creators deliberately left that moment open to interpretation. Burke explained, “It’s what you think. Like Josh said, it’s walking right up the line, and you can think one thing or the other. Probably everyone is going to look at that and have a different interpretation. Did he really help or was it just that the eye of a storm passed over?”

Josh Pate said, “I think I know what Kara thinks. She thinks JJ helped her.”

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