Outer Banks’ Jonathan Daviss And Madelyn Cline Open Up About Finally Sharing A Big Scene And The Wild Goonies-Like Set They Were Working On

Spoilers for Season 4, Part 1 of Outer Banks are ahead! If you haven’t caught the first five episodes to air on the 2024 TV schedule, you can stream them with a Netflix subscription.

Going into Season 4, Part 2 of Outer Banks, things aren’t looking great…JJ just found out that his dad isn’t his biological dad, John B. is feeling apprehensive about the hunt, and, oh yeah, Pope and Sarah are stuck in a catacomb that’s starting to fill with water. However, while those circumstances aren’t exactly ideal for anyone, it did give us a magnificent action-packed sequence between Jonathan Daviss and Madelyn Cline’s characters.

Now, they've broken down what it was like filming the Goonies-esque scenes with CinemaBlend.

Jonathan Daviss and Madelyn Cline Had Been Wanting To Share More Scenes Together

During my interviews with the Outer Banks cast for CinemaBlend, I was excited to ask Daviss and Cline about their big scene, since Pope and Sarah haven’t spent much solo time together at all.

They both told me they’d been wanting to work together for a while, and the Daviss specifically explained that getting a scene like this was actually a request:

Yeah, honestly, that was a request. I think me and Maddie love working together. We're really, really good friends. We watched Game of Thrones in the off-seasons together this year. It was my first time watching it. She had already seen it, so she was sitting there watching me go through it.

He went on to say that it was “about time” that Sarah and Pope got some screentime together, while also breaking down what that catacomb set was like. And let’s just say, when it came to those dark sets, I think they got more than they bargained for…

Jonathan Daviss And Madelyn Cline Break Down Filming Their Big Scenes In The Goonies-Like Set

Let me set the scene. Most of the Outer Banks cast was outside dealing with their new enemy at the end of Season 4, Part 1. Meanwhile, Sarah and Pope were stuck in a catacomb that’s reminiscent of a set from Goonies or Indiana Jones that was filled with rats. To put that in perspective, here’s how Jonathan Daviss described it to me:

It was dark, it was cold, and there were a lot of rats everywhere. So that was what it was like, doing it.

Madelyn Cline described the sets further, telling me that there were three of them. While she wasn’t a fan of the rats, she did appreciate all the artistry that went into those dark and ancient-looking locations, as she said:

Look, they absolutely crushed it. It was an incredible set. It was three different sets, I think. It was pretty phenomenal. And I can appreciate that they left absolutely nothing on the table when it came to building those sets.

Meanwhile, their co-star Madison Bailey chimed in saying that even though Kiara wasn’t in that scene and she didn’t see the sets in person, on screen, she was blown away, saying that it looked “amazing.” While it did indeed look “amazing,” the Glass Onion actress implied that she was also freaked out down there, noting that “life was imitating art,” as Sarah freaked out, and apparently so did she:

It turned out great. It was great to work with Jonathan in that scene, because he kind of, he kept me as calm as possible. There wasn't much acting done. So I really feel like life was imitating art in those scenes.

Daviss also recalled this story, complimenting his co-star and saying she was a “trooper.” However, while she survived the scene, it didn’t sound like she was having the best time, as he explained:

Maddie was so cool, she was a trooper. Some of that wasn't acting. She was really complaining. And I'm over here trying to either not laugh or just like I understand where she was coming from. But, yeah, that sequence it's sick. And it really felt like going, real Indiana Jones, real Goonies, with everything we were doing.

Outer Banks has always had a bit of Goonies and Indiana Jones flavor as it's a show all about a group of kids finding hidden treasure. However, this scene really had that energy as Sarah and Pope descended into a catacomb to find what they were looking for. Now, like Indy or the kids in Goonies, Daviss and Cline’s characters are in an impossible situation that they need to escape during OBX Part 2.

Teasing what’s to come, the Pope performer said:

Well, we know this, there's no way out and the catacomb is going to fill to the top. So they're in there with that, and that's where they are. So they have to try to find a way out. But it's not looking good.

Yeah, things aren’t exactly going great for the characters in the story. However, on the screen, they look fantastic because of this epic set and great performances!

To see if Pope and Sarah get out of this wet, old and rat-filled place, you can catch Season 4, Part 2 of Outer Banks when it premieres on Netflix’s 2024 schedule on November 7.

Riley Utley
Weekend Editor

Riley Utley is the Weekend Editor at CinemaBlend. She has written for national publications as well as daily and alt-weekly newspapers in Spokane, Washington, Syracuse, New York and Charleston, South Carolina. She graduated with her master’s degree in arts journalism and communications from the Newhouse School at Syracuse University. Since joining the CB team she has covered numerous TV shows and movies -- including her personal favorite shows Ted Lasso and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. She also has followed and consistently written about everything from Taylor Swift to Fire Country, and she's enjoyed every second of it.