‘Outer Banks’ Fans Think Madison Bailey Shut Down Those Kiara and Rafe Season 5 Romance Rumors

Outer Banks fans hoping to see Kiara explore a romance with Rafe in season 5 may not get their wish.

Madison Bailey posted a TikTok on Tuesday, July 2, showing the cast on set. A fan replied in the comments section, writing, “Maddie tell Kiara I want her with Rafe now!”

Bailey, 26, replied and made it clear she wasn’t as on board with the fictional couple. “She said no,” she said.

Bailey’s opinion comes as some viewers were hoping season 5 would be the time for Kiara and arch nemesis Rafe (Drew Starkey) to explore their chemistry. Other fans, however, pointed out that it wouldn’t make sense in the narrative considering Kiara’s boyfriend, JJ (Rudy Pankow), just died.

“It’s a hard turn to go straight to a Rafe and Kiara ’ship given where they’ve been in the past,” creator Josh Pate told Cosmopolitan in November 2024 before adding, “We also know how great Drew and Madison are as actors and how great they are together. So we’re definitely going to explore that relationship.”

Outer Banks, which debuted in 2020, follows the conflict between two groups of teenagers in a coastal North Carolina town. The social divide is introduced with the wealthy residents (a.k.a. the Kooks) and the working class (the Pogues). Since season 1, Kiara and Rafe have not been on good terms — especially as Sarah’s (Madelyn Cline) brother antagonized their friend group and killed a few people along the way.

Season 5 is currently filming and is expected to follow the aftermath of JJ’s shocking death. The show originally received backlash when Pankow’s departure was confirmed despite the writing team claiming it was always the plan to kill off the fan-favorite character.

“It’s been kind of lurking in his DNA from the beginning. He’s really a tragic figure, and the idea of mortality, and you only have a finite window — it’s also a theme of the show,” executive producer Jonas Pate told The Hollywood Reporter in November 2024. “It’s something John B. has talked about from the first season. So believe it or not, this is something that was always sort of baked in the cake, and we just wanted to tell the story as elegantly and interestingly as possible.”

After JJ’s onscreen death, the show’s creators explained their decision to kill off a Pogue.

“The overarching plan was to begin with just some kids who wanted to have a good time all the time, and take them on a whole journey,” Shannon Burke told Deadline in November 2024. “One of them was going to end up dying, and pretty early on, we knew that was going to be JJ, he’s the most reckless. He is also the most beloved and, in one way, the most sacrificing and the most risk-taking. And this was going to be JJ’s year.”

He continued: “The kids, they’re getting older. We wanted to begin in a place of innocence and then go to a place that at least one point to go is really dark for them, and then have them come out of it. That’s the overarching plan for the show. It was always JJ that was going to be, we just weren’t sure how we were going to play it.”

Outer Banks is currently streaming on Netflix.