New series from creator of Netflix hit 'Outer Banks' to shoot in Wilmington

Jonas Pate is finally getting to do another show in Wilmington.

The Port City resident, who's also the co-creator of the hit Netflix series "Outer Banks," will be shooting a new eight-episode series, "The Runarounds," in Wilmington later this year. Dates have not been announced, but the show should start shooting here in July, Pate said from Morocco, where he's currently shooting the fourth season of "Outer Banks," which wraps in June.

"I'm so excited and ready to get home," Pate said.

According to a story from industry publication The Hollywood Reporter, the new series "will be set (in) and film in Wilmington" and air on Amazon's Prime Video streaming platform for Skydance Television.

A pilot for "The Runarounds" shot in Wilmington in 2022 as "Untitled Band Project," with locations that included New Hanover High School, downtown Wilmington and the Forest Hills and Carolina Heights neighborhoods.

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"What a blessing" to be able to shoot in Wilmington, Pate said. "It only took us about seven years."

In 2019, Pate told the StarNews he wrote "Outer Banks" to shoot in North Carolina and specifically in Wilmington. But the show wound up shooting in South Carolina instead after the North Carolina General Assembly passed the controversial House Bill 2, which critics said discriminated against transgender people.

"Outer Banks" did shoot some scenes in the Wilmington area late last year.

As for "The Runarounds," it's about a real-life pop/rock band of the same name trying to make it big. The band appeared on season three of "Outer Banks" and played Wilmington venue Bourgie Nights in 2023.

The Runarounds is comprised of Axel Ellis, Jesse Golliher, William Lipton of "General Hospital," Zendé Murdock and Jeremy Yun.

"The Runarounds" series will also star Pate's daughter, Lilah Pate, and producers include Pate's twin brother, Josh; his wife, Jennifer; and longtime Wilmington casting director Lisa Mae Fincannon.

"It's a family affair," Pate said. "My wife, my brother and my daughter."

Lilah Pate, 20, has appeared in "Outer Banks" and in Wilmington-shot Amazon series "The Summer I Turned Pretty."

"She's a pro," her father said, adding that directing her "is going to be so much fun."

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Pate said "The Runarounds" could create opportunities for Wilmington bands, as some scenes call for bands other than The Runarounds to be playing.

"I'd rather use a local band than a band from somewhere else," he said.

"The Runarounds" might also include the last screen appearance of North Carolina music legend Dexter Romweber, who shot a cameo role for the series in 2022. Romweber, who rose to fame in the late 1980s with the punk/rockabilly group Flat Duo Jets, died Feb. 16 at the age of 57.

In his honor, Pate said, "The Runarounds" will feature a recurring location called Romweber's Pizza.

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Pate, who's from Raeford, made his first movie in Wilmington in 1995 with his brother. "The Grave," about two escaped prison inmates searching for buried treasure (the buried treasure theme that pops up multiple times on "Outer Banks"), made it into the prestigious Sundance Film Festival.

Pate would eventually move to Los Angeles, where he lived for more than two decades before moving back to Wilmington in 2018. Pate had previously returned to Wilmington in 2005 to shoot the NBC TV series "Surface," of which he was a creator.

This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Outer Banks spinoff The Runarounds to shoot in Wilmington for Amazon