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‘Outer Banks’: Carlacia Grant on How Cleo’s Revenge Era Will Complicate Her Romance with Pope
[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Outer Banks Season 4 Part 1.]
Outer Banks Season 4 Part 1 may have left the Pogues hungry for another treasure hunt, but a tragic loss in the midseason finale put Cleo on a path to something much more dangerous.
“She is focused on revenge,” said Carlacia Grant, who plays the more-than-capable Barbadian transplant to the Outer Banks.
Who can blame her? In the final episode of Part 1, Terrance (Terence Rosemore), the man who practically raised Cleo in Barbados before she fled in Season 2 as the newest member of the Pogues, is killed trying to protect his surrogate daughter from a rival group of treasure hunters seeking the fabled Blue Crown, which may have been found and hidden by the pirate Blackbeard.
Carlacia Grant as Cleo. (Jackson Lee Davis / Netflix)
Terrance was hired by the hunters, unaware they would kidnap Cleo as a means of getting their hands on the amulet the Pogues found in the wreckage of Blackbeard’s ship. But when Lightner (Rigo Sanchez) gets ready to pull the trigger on Cleo, Terrance jumps in and takes a bullet to the stomach. Not only does Lightner take the amulet, Terrance dies in front of Cleo, shattering the growing sense of peace she found with the Pogues in North Carolina.
“I think she has her connection with the Pogues and what they have going on, but for her, losing Terrance is a big life change,” Grant told Swooon. “He was something that brought her back to her home and the most familiar thing to her. I think she is overcome with grief and overcome with revenge, and that’s the main thing that is on her mind.”
For those thinking her boyfriend Pope (Jonathan Daviss) will be able to pull her back from the edge may want to prepare themselves for Part 2’s final five episodes, premiering November 7, because Grant says Cleo will have a hard time letting anyone in as she processes Terrance’s death and her intense need for vengeance.
“I think this especially complicates her relationship with Pope because, at this point, she is willing to risk it all,” Grant said. “She can’t figure out who she is and if she can be in a relationship with Pope until she feels like she gets even with what has happened in her past.”
That being said, don’t lose all hope in Pope and Cleo.
“I think in a lot of ways Pope and Cleo are very Bonnie and Clyde. They are very ride or die,” she said. “I really love this season how patient Pope is with her.”
Carlacia Grant and Jonathan Daviss as Cleo and Pope. (Jackson Lee Davis / Netflix)
Grant said she was surprised that Terrance actually died this season. But she spoke with series writers, including co-creator Jonas Pate, about exactly why this loss is so traumatizing for Cleo and part of her grief is rooted in unfinished business.
“We had a lot of conversations about what Cleo would be going through losing someone so close to her and not having the chance to say a goodbye,” Grant said. “It was a quick moment when she had to run away and think on her feet [in Season 2]. I wanted it to come across this season in the way I portray her that she carries this guilt. She didn’t have that conversation with Terrance where she gets to say, ‘I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have done it and I missed you.’ Or even a chance to say, ‘Thank you for all that you have done for me.’ I think Terrance was able to see the young girl that he raised, but he wasn’t able to celebrate who she has become with her.”
The young woman and the delicate balance that Cleo has struck for herself will implode as she grapples with the aftermath of what Lightner took from her. “She had actually found her way,” Grant said. “She was cooking. She made this menu for the surf shop. She was taking care of those beta fish. She had found her place where she really feels valued, she had found her home. But one episode later, her life is rocked.”
In Part 2, the Pogues will find a way to be patient with Cleo, even as they deal with their escalating crises related to Blackbeard’s treasure.
“Even in her moments of rage, the Pogues find that space for Cleo to maybe exhibit emotions that they know she is not comfortable exhibiting,” Grant said. “I think they give her space when she needs it.”
Outer Banks, Season 4, Part 1, Streaming Now, Netflix
Outer Banks, Season 4, Part 2, November 7, Netflix
