Updated

Updated · Hollywood Reporter · Aug 21

Chase Stokes Reveals Organ Scare After 5 Seasons of Outer Banks, Eyes AMC NASCAR Drama

Updated

Updated · Hollywood Reporter · Aug 21

Chase Stokes Reveals Organ Scare After 5 Seasons of Outer Banks, Eyes AMC NASCAR Drama

Q: How did a former teen idol help Chase Stokes escape the curse of being pigeonholed after five seasons on a massive hit?

A key part of Chase Stokes’ effort to avoid being trapped by *Outer Banks* was advice from former teen idol Joshua Jackson, who had already lived through a similar transition after *Dawson’s Creek*. Stokes said he turned to Jackson as someone who understood what it means to become strongly identified with one character on a hit young-adult series. Their conversation, Stokes said, was “really, really calming and peaceful” because Jackson reframed the problem: being known for a defining role is not a curse so much as a blessing. That perspective appears to have helped Stokes stop fighting the association with John B and think more strategically about what should come next. The advice came at a moment when Stokes said he still felt “very pigeonholed” after five seasons as John B. He has described the challenge of trying to prove he is more than “the YA guy with the floppy beach hair,” especially after *Outer Banks* became a global hit during the pandemic and made him famous in an unusually intense, isolated way. Jackson’s guidance was only part of the shift. Stokes also stepped away from work, went through therapy, and sought medical treatment for serious health issues. He has said that break helped him recover physically and emotionally and gave him the space to figure out who he was outside the show. Now, with *Outer Banks* ending, he is moving into new work including his directorial debut, *I Told the Sunset About You*, and AMC’s upcoming NASCAR drama *Thunder Road*.

3 articles · Updated · Hollywood Reporter · Aug 21

33-year-old Chase Stokes said he stepped back after finishing Netflix’s fifth and final season of Outer Banks because his liver and kidneys were failing and his testosterone was “alarmingly low.”
Deep therapy, biweekly blood tests and TMS treatment followed as Stokes tried to recover physically and mentally after years of maintaining the body and identity of a teen character he began playing at 27.
The actor said the show’s pandemic-era rise made fame especially disorienting, with the cast isolated on set before suddenly facing crowds of 3,000 fans and paparazzi attention once restrictions lifted.
With the finale now out, Stokes said he finally feels like himself again and is moving into new work, including his directorial debut I Told the Sunset About You and AMC’s NASCAR series Thunder Road.