John B and Sarah will still be very much in love in “Outer Banks” season three, but for stars Chase Stokes and Madelyn Cline, filming the hit Netflix show’s third season marked their first time working together post-breakup. The young couple called it quits in November 2021, not long after they celebrated their one-year anniversary. But while it would have been understandable if things were weird on set between the actors, Stokes and Cline revealed to Entertainment Weekly that their professional relationship is still going strong.
“Mads and I have been working together now for 30 episodes, and we made a promise to each other before we even started dating that the work was always going to come first,” Stokes explained. “And that no matter what happens in our personal lives, and the ways that life sometimes takes you in different directions, that we’re always going to honor the work. That stayed 100 percent truthful this season.”
Cline added, “We had a working relationship before we had a personal relationship, and our job from day one has always been to leave the show better than we found it. I’m really, really happy, and I’m very proud of the work this season, and I’m incredibly grateful for my costars and their professionalism and just how talented each and every one of them are.”
The “Knives Out: Glass Onion” actor added that she and Stokes have “always shown up for each other when it comes to work and this show.” That’s something that continued in season three, which is set to premiere Feb. 23 on Netflix.
Series cocreator Jonas Pate backed his stars up, telling the outlet that they were consummate professionals throughout filming for the show’s third season. “Honestly, and this isn’t just me: they’re pros,” Pate said. “They handled themselves unbelievably on set, and you would never know that they had an off-camera relationship. They were great. It’s a credit to Chase and to Maddie, they just put their heads down and did the work, so good for them.”
Cline and Stokes went Instagram official with their relationship in a since-deleted Instagram post shared in October 2020 by Stokes. “Cats outta the bag,” he captioned a photo from their beach date. In March 2022, there was speculation that the actors may have reunited, but as of January, Stokes appears to be dating singer Kelsea Ballerini (although their reported romance has not been confirmed), while Cline revealed she’s living with her boyfriend, whose identity she hasn’t shared, in Malibu in a December 2022 interview with The Cut.
Even though they’ve both moved on, it’s clear these exes are committed to making the best show they possibly can.
“It’s been a joy portraying this enemies-to-lovers, forbidden-lovers storyline,” Cline shared with EW. “It is quite a journey this year, again. We really drove the point home of choosing family, and also, relationships and friendships are hard, and sometimes it gets messy, but you still care, you still love hard.”
Image Source: Jackson Lee Davis / Netflix