‘The Goonies’ Meets ‘The Outsiders’ in Netflix Hit Returning for its Final Season

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‘The Goonies’ Meets ‘The Outsiders’ in Netflix Hit Returning for its Final Season

Netflix’s swashbuckling teen drama returns for one final adventure. Set along the shore of North Carolina, Outer Banks follows a ragtag team of have-nots fighting for their families and livelihoods. The series harkens back to 1980s classics, blending the treasure-hunting DNA of Richard Donner’s The Goonies and the social politics of Francis Ford Coppola’s The Outsiders.

These stories span decades and are spread across the country, with The Goonies set in 1980s Oregon, The Outsiders set in 1960s Oklahoma, and of course, Outer Banks set in 2020s North Carolina. But they share timeless themes of class conflict and found family. As with the other films, Outer Banks is divided into the poor Pogues living on The Cut and the rich Kooks residing on Figure Eight. While not every character has a direct counterpart, the series protagonist John B. Routledge (Chase Stokes) steps into archetypes filled by Sean Astin’s Mikey Walsh in The Goonies and C. Thomas Howell as Ponyboy Curtis in The Outsiders.

Image via Warner Bros.

Outer Banks follows in the treasure-hunting footsteps of The Goonies, with its band of misfits (albeit a bit older) seeking out shipwrecks and legendary treasures in order to find parents, save homes, and pay debts. The classic film followed a group of kids and teens as they search for a long-lost pirate treasure as a last-ditch effort to save their homes.

While there’s no equivalent for Sloth, John B. and his friends — loose cannon JJ Maybank (Rudy Pankow), resident brainiac Pope Heyward (Jonathan Daviss), rich girl outcast Kiara Carrera (Madison Bailey), “Kook Princess” Sarah Cameron (Madelyn Cline), and eventually, Nassau native Cleo Anderson (Carlacia Grant)— are akin to the titular Goonies. The close-knit group often describe their family-like relationship and eventually live together in a home they dub “Poguelandia.”

Originally looking for answers about John B.’s missing father, the Pogues stumble upon the search for the Royal Merchant and then subsequent treasure hunts for the Cross of Santo Domingo, El Dorado, and Blackbeard’s Blue Crown. Much like the Goonies, they are constantly fighting for their lives as they try to outrun dangerous criminals. But the villains in Outer Banks are more menacing, not just crime families but criminals amongst family.

Like ‘The Outsiders,’ ‘Outer Banks’ Follows a Class Clash

Five teenagers walk down the street in the night, all of them looking tired and bloodied. — Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe, C. Thomas Howell, Patrick Swayze, and Tom Cruise walk down the street in the night, all of them looking tired and bloodied.

The Outsiders, based on the S.E. Hinton novel of the same name, follows Ponyboy Curtis and his fellow Greasers as they clash with the rich kids in town. While a tad more modern, Outer Banks mixes in the same have and have-not strife. The Netflix series trades in the Greasers vs. the Socs for the Pogues vs. the Kooks. Their socioeconomic tension bubbles up in violent encounters that often leave the Pogues facing criminal charges while the Kooks regularly buy their way out.

And while the Goonies’ motto is “never say die,” death looms over the lives of the Greasers and Pogues. Outer Banks and The Outsiders dole out parental figures haphazardly, leaving many of their characters to face abusive homes and orphanhood. And with a multi-season run, the body count just keeps rising on Outer Banks.

But perhaps the most devastating parallels are the losses of Johnny Cade (Ralph Macchio) in The Outsiders and JJ in Outer Banks. Tragic figures, they are best friends to the protagonists, grew up in abusive homes, and willingly picked up the fight when a friend was in danger. Their deaths sent shock waves through their friend groups.

‘Outer Banks’ Returns for a Final Season

After a nearly 2-year hiatus, Outer Banks returns for a 10-episode final season on August 20. When viewers last saw them, the team was stranded in Morocco and reeling from JJ’s shocking death. Now out for revenge, the new season promises one final mission to save their necks and secure their futures.

The series, created by Shannon Burke, Jonas Pate, and Josh Pate, premiered in 2020. Each season the stakes have risen, with legal woes, deaths, and violence seemingly always on their heels. If even possible, the stakes were raised once again in Season 4 with the group at risk of losing their home, looming criminal charges, constant near-death experiences, and impending parenthood. To complicate matters, they are forced to work with Sarah’s volatile, and even homicidal, brother Rafe (Drew Starkey) who seems primed for a redemption arc in the upcoming season. But the Pogues continue to put it all on the line, explaining the show’s ethos in the season 5 trailer. As a voice-over declared, “If you are on the bottom, you have to risk everything.”

Outer Banks will set sail for one last adventure, with its final act left to be told. But there are some clues to how it might end, looking at other stories it emulates. Like The Goonies and The Outsiders, these are stories of found family and of fighting for your home. And in those cases, the have-nots were able to finally get a win. So, whether they go by Goonies, Greasers, or Pogues, these are underdogs fighting systems of oppression.