Outer Banks prequel: everything we know about Kildare, the Netflix project that isn't officially a show yet

Here's what's actually confirmed as of August 2026: a prequel tentatively titled Kildare is in formal development at Netflix, set roughly 20 years before the original series, from all three Outer Banks co-creators. It has no series order, no cast, no episode count, and no release date.

What "formal development" means here

At a streamer, formal development means there's a writer, a deal, and interest. It does not mean a green light. Deadline broke the news in August 2026, days before the fifth and final season of Outer Banks premiered on August 20; Netflix's response was to say nothing at all.

Josh Pate was more forthcoming, if not more specific.

"We're working on the script," Pate told Deadline in 2026, describing the work as ongoing with Netflix.

The premise

Kildare would go back to what powered season 1 before the treasure hunts took over: the class split on fictional Kildare Island between the wealthy Kooks of Figure Eight and the working-class Pogues of The Cut. Set two decades earlier, it lands in the early 2000s and would deal with how that divide formed in the first place — which also puts it squarely in the era of the current cast's parents.

Josh Pate, Jonas Pate, and Shannon Burke created the original together and would all return.

How long this has been kicking around

Longer than the announcement suggests. Jonas Pate mentioned a prequel concept in interviews with Wilmington's Port City Daily in both 2023 and 2024, and said he wanted to shoot it in North Carolina with an entirely new young cast. Outer Banks itself filmed around Charleston for three seasons before production moved to North Carolina for season 4.

Reasons for caution

Netflix has been selective about expanding its hits:

• The Uncle Fester spinoff — the Wednesday offshoot with Fred Armisen has been in development for about three years with a reportedly well-received script and still no order.
• The Virgin River prequel — developed, then cut.
• Stranger Things — of the various spinoffs explored, only an animated one made it to air.
• The Pates' track record elsewhere — their most recent series, The Runarounds, premiered on Prime Video in September 2025 rather than Netflix.

Does the original show's performance help?

It doesn't hurt. Outer Banks season 3 pulled close to 3.2 billion viewing minutes in its debut week, and season 4 opened at the top of Netflix's English-language chart with 15.5 million views. The prequel is one of several projects the Pates and Burke have going under their Netflix overall deal.

So: real project, real writer, real streamer, zero guarantees. Bookmark accordingly.