Outer Banks actors Chase Stokes and Madelyn Cline are hardly the first teen drama stars to work together after a breakup, but they may be the most drama-free.
Stokes and Cline got together in 2020 after playing hometown enemies-to-lovers John B and Sarah on the popular Netflix series before quietly splitting about a year and a half later in November 2021. While some behind-the-scenes breakups are more dramatic than others—Olivia Rodrigo practically dedicated an entire breakup album to her High School Musical: The Musical: The Series costar Joshua Bassett—Stokes and Cline say they were able to keep things completely professional while filming season three.
“Mads and I have been working together now for 30 episodes, and we made a promise to each other before we even started dating that the work was always going to come first,” Stokes told Entertainment Weekly in a new interview. “And that no matter what happens in our personal lives, and the ways that life sometimes takes you in different directions, that we’re always going to honor the work. That stayed 100 percent truthful this season.”
He continued to praise his ex-girlfriend, who recently starred in Glass Onion: a Knives Out Story, saying, “She’s an incredible person, a rockstar of an actress, and she’s having an incredible moment. Regardless of now not being together in a personal relationship, I’m still always going to be one of her biggest fans, and I’m super, super proud of all of her accomplishments inside the show and outside the show.”
Cline shared a similar sentiment, telling the publication that they’ve “always shown up for each other when it comes to work and this show.”
“We had a working relationship before we had a personal relationship, and our job from day one has always been to leave the show better than we found it,” she said. “I’m really, really happy and I’m very proud of the work this season, and I’m incredibly grateful for my costars and their professionalism and just how talented each and every one of them are.”