The Runarounds ended on a hopeful note — while also teasing a more disappointing future for each character — so what can fans expect from season 2?
During the season 1 finale, which premiered on Monday, September 1, Charlie (William Lipton) in voice-over form, offered a glimpse at where each member of the band would end up if they didn’t commit to their music.
“Hopefully [that doesn’t come true]. That bummed me out. It’s kind of dark,” Lipton exclusively told Us Weekly during a joint interview with Axel Ellis, Jeremy Yun, Zendé Murdock and Jesse Golliher. “In that moment, it feels like they lost. They had one summer to make it happen and the one shot that they had and all the work that went up to make that happen, — it just didn’t work out for them.”
While the band was ultimately able to get a record deal, the show still teased a more depressing version of events for each character.
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“I think at that moment Charlie is really looking at his friends and what realistically might happen. Not getting that deal and just being grateful for having such a special time and special summer with them,” Lipton continued. “I got so emotional when I recorded the voiceover for that. It was a really beautiful moment and especially because a lot of our characters are similar.”
Season 2 would likely pick up on a more hopeful note as The Runarounds face a new set of challenges on the road to success. Golliher and Murdock have a specific request they would like to see happen for their characters: girlfriends. Lipton, meanwhile, pitched a “dance act” for the musical group.
Based on a teleplay from Outer Banks cocreator Jonas Pate and David Wilcox, the fictional series follows the real band of the same name. Lipton, Ellis, Yun, Murdock and Golliher formed the musical group in 2021 when Pate released a casting call for a group to appear on Outer Banks. The Runarounds was chosen out of 5,000 musicians who responded. The episode was filmed in 2022, as The Runarounds recorded an EP and went on tour.
“The time we met we played a bunch of music together,” Ellis recalled. “But we also tried to act out some scenes. Thankfully we had Mr. Chase Stokes there with us just really coaching us.”
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He continued: “It was our first time ever trying acting really. So he was awesome and had he not been there, I don’t know if I would be here.”
Murdock, meanwhile, broke down the brief crossover with Outer Banks in season 3. He noted it was “not meant to be taken super seriously,” adding, “That was more for us in real life to go off the creation. That doesn’t have much to do with the universe.”
In addition to the musical group, The Runarounds also stars Brooklyn Decker, Maximo Salas, Marley Aliah, Hayes MacArthur, Mark Wystrach, Shea Pritchard, Lilah Pate and Kelley Pereira. J. Anthony Crane and Cullen Moss made brief appearances in different roles from the characters they currently play on Outer Banks.
Before The Runarounds premiered, Jonas confirmed in December 2024 that Prime Video already ordered a second season before the show even premiered. He also revealed that he was writing a prequel to Outer Banks, titled Kildare. The series is still in the early stages but would feature a whole new set of young actors and focus on the founding of each group in the show’s fictional Figure 8 town.
Outer Banks is currently streaming on Netflix while The Runarounds is out on Prime Video.
