Actor Chase Stokes may be living the life of luxury in LA, but his heart is still in the South. “I was in Malibu the other day,” the baseball-clad Netflix star tells Alexa on Zoom, “and it was high tide and you couldn’t even go to the beach because the water was up to the shore. He wants back to Charleston, where even at high tide, “you’ve got 50 feet of sand where you can get the dogs to run around, or get in the water and not be at the edge of the frost. You can get the guy out of the banks.” external…
Or should we say, “Foreign Banks”. The hit series about a close-knit group of (mostly) treasure-hunting working-class teenagers has shot in South Carolina, standing in for its northern cousin, for four. seasons — with some notable departures for her globe-trotting characters. Finally, Stokes’ character, the impetuous but big-hearted adventurer John B Routledge, finds himself in the Orinoco Basin of South America, searching for the lost city of gold, El Dorado. Part of the show’s draw, he says, “is the National Geographic, David Attenborough, Planet Earth landscapes. I never thought I’d be able to play a version of what I like to believe is a The new Indiana Jones.â€
He’s got the square jaw and the loner charisma to match that suit, for sure. And Stokes knows his source material. He may only be 32, but his taste in movies is old – and Spielberg’s iconic archeologist is at the top of the list. “One of the proudest purchases I ever made, after we finished the first season of ‘Outer Banks,’ was an original ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ poster,” he says. “It was just my thing. I grew up in that exclusive!†“Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.†He loves a quality rom-com.
Stokes is likely cashing in on first-edition posters now, but like John B, he keeps his scrappy pedigree close. His starring role in Outer Banks, after a series of small roles in shows including Stranger Things, came just as his bank account was getting awfully close to zero. “Yesterday, I was out with my girlfriend” who would be country megawatt and former Alexa cover star Kelsea Ballerini — “and we drove by the first apartment I had when I moved to LA,” he. remembers. “It was this small studio under 300 square meters. She said, “If you had to, you would go back to that apartment and start over?” He said yes, without hesitation. “It was a really nice thing to give myself that little reminder: I would absolutely go back and do the trip again.” (Last year Ballerini shared the flirty DMs she first sent to Stokes to get noticed.)
However, it seems unlikely he’ll ever have to as the new season of “Outer Banks” heats up. October came out. 10, the first episode sees John B and his friends, who call themselves the Pogues (named after the little fish, not the band), living the dream as they open a surf shop on Kildare Island. But don’t get too comfortable: This season takes the cast to ever more remote locations. Filming took a year to a day, much longer than previous seasons, says Stokes. “Part of that was the strike, and the other part was that we shot in Morocco for what was supposed to be two weeks and ended up being two months.” What happened? “Oh, all kinds of things I think I’m probably not legally allowed to say,” he replies sheepishly.
The show premiered in April 2020, in the midst of the pandemic, providing a much-needed dose of Goonies-style escapism mixed with Gossip Girl — eye candy and drama. That season saw John B and the rest of the Pogues, JJ (Rudy Pankow), Kiara (Madison Bailey), Pope (Jonathan Daviss) and Sarah (Madelyn Cline), searching for a sunken ship with treasure on board, a search for started by John. Bea’s father misses her. “We’ve pushed the boundaries on this really massive treasure hunt show for these kids who are constantly in over their heads,” Stokes says with a laugh.
Last month also saw Stokes in the Netflix film Uglies, an adaptation of the YA book about a dystopian society centered on plastic surgery. And he has two more films coming soon, starting with the military drama Valiant One, co-starring Lana Condor, in which Stokes plays a table-cavalry soldier suddenly thrust into the line of fire. “This is not the world of shooting and exploding things,” explains Stokes. “And don’t get me wrong, I would die to do something like that!” It’s just a very different story. Next up is “Marked Men,” an upcoming drama from the director of “The Notebook.” “I adore Nick Cassavetes,” says Stokes. “He’s been an all-time great director for me to work with, and he’s a lifelong friend and mentor.”
The Maryland native is also close with his “Outer Banks” castmates; his phone buzzes partway through our interview and it’s his co-star, Bailey, recording. “I’m so thankful that we’ve all stayed close,” says Stokes, “because when your life changes like that, there’s not a lot of other people who can understand it. To still have that connective tissue and connection, it’s a really special thing. SPECIAL
Outer Banks fans know the Pogues have a uniform of sorts, a cut-and-tank aesthetic that nods to the relentless humidity of a Carolina summer. John B also wears a gray band around his neck, a well-worn talisman that has seen him through a few things. (It’s also been the subject of speculation that it turned out to be an ancient artifact, which would be a great plot twist.)
Off screen, Stokes is adept at switching between high-end and super casual. “What’s so fun about fashion is that it’s your own self-expression and there’s really no rules,” he says. “If anyone tries to make a rule around it, they’re fooling themselves and trying to fool you.”
Our shoot with Stokes finds him reflecting on the evolution of his style.
“It feels really uplifting,” he says. “I think at 32, it’s time for me to dress for my current age. Dressing the way I would traditionally dress, versus what the world sees me on TV.
“I think at 32, it’s time for me to dress for my current age. Dressing the way I would traditionally dress, versus what the world sees me on TV.
As the dancer’s boyfriend, he’s been known to wear cowboy boots, trucker hats and even a “trucker’s” wife t-shirt in a silly Instagram post. When he and Ballerini step out on a red carpet, they make it count. The couple, who have been together since February 2023, were a study in contrasts at this year’s Met Gala: Sheer paneled ballerinas with flowers in keeping with the theme, The Garden of Time, and Stokes. a dark, shimmering rock star, shirtless under a Michael Kors tux. “There was a lot of inspiration from the early work of Michael Kors,” he notes. “It was a dark contrast to what Kels was wearing.” I ask how his first gala went. Is it easy to rub elbows with the designers of the world? “God, no,” he laughs. “I struggle very badly with impostor syndrome.”
Just as it was about to be too much, Stokes boarded a plane to Charleston at 4 a.m. that night, then spent the next day on a boat in the middle of the ocean. It’s a strange way of living, and he makes sure to build in moments of quiet to remember what it is. “When life goes at this pace, it’s so important to fit in some semblance of normalcy, just outside of the workspace or outside of things like the Met, to make sure you only have a moment to touch the grass,” says Stokes. “Because everything can become so fast and so fast that you lose the sense of what is real and what is not.”
One of the most reliable ways to keep your head on straight amid the lights and flattery? Meet someone whose base often has no idea who you are. When Stokes is out with his girlfriend, he says, he’s likely to slap someone’s smartphone in their hand so he can snap a photo of his owner with Ballerini. “They’re like, ‘I know you’re the boyfriend. Can you take a picture for us? “A bit of ego check,” he says with a laugh.
Life with a singer, he explains, is a study in a different kind of art. “It’s fun to watch a song go from a voice memo on the back porch to mixing, mastering and finalization,” he explains. And he’s been there for milestones, like the first time the ballerina mom heard her new ballad, “Sorry Mom.”
“[Kelsea] she was at a retreat and I had taken her mother out to dinner,’ Stokes recalled. “And she texted me, ‘Hey, I want you to listen to this with my mom.’ We sat in the car and I played it, and I saw her mom get excited, because it’s such a beautiful song. It’s such an honest interpretation of what every child, I hope, would like to say to their mother at some point. She looked at me with tears in her eyes and said, ‘There’s nothing to be sorry for.’ She wasn’t the only one with tears in her eyes, he adds: “I was a wreck!â€
But then, he shrugs: What’s life if you don’t occasionally let yourself be a wreck (or explore it)? “The Outer Banks,” says Stokes, “is kind of a metaphor for life: You’re never really as prepared for anything as you’d like to be. Life will throw you curves. And it’s all about the people who keep close and the way you handle things We like to think we have things together — and we rarely, rarely do
Editor: Serena French; Stylist: Ashley Pruitt for The Only Agency; Photo Editor: Jessica Hober; Talent Booker: Patty Adams Martinez; Groomer: Catherine Furniss for Department of Art LA using Balmain Hair; Fashion Assistant: Mariah “Kaij” Jackson; Production Assistant: Zach Roy
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