Why Is Rafe Working With the Pogues in Outer Banks Season 5?

Rafe Cameron standing beside the Pogues would have been almost impossible to imagine during the early seasons of Outer Banks. He shot Sheriff Peterkin, nearly killed Sarah, repeatedly fought John B and spent years treating the Pogues as enemies. Yet Season 5 begins with Netflix explicitly describing Rafe as part of an “uneasy alliance” with John B, Sarah, Kiara, Pope and Cleo. The explanation is not that Rafe has suddenly become a Pogue. Season 4 gradually puts him on their side through his hatred of Chandler Groff, his reconciliation with Sarah and the simple reality that, by the time they reach Morocco, they are fighting the same enemies.

Rafe’s alliance actually begins in Season 4

Rafe starts helping the Pogues before JJ’s death, and his involvement is more substantial than a temporary truce. He secures a boat capable of taking them across the Atlantic, persuades Sheriff Shoupe to let the group pursue Groff and eventually fights Groff himself in Morocco. When Groff attacks him with a knife, Rafe overpowers him and throws him into a well. Drew Starkey explained that Rafe’s actions still come partly from selfishness and pride, particularly his desire to take back what he believes belongs to him.

That distinction matters because Outer Banks is not rewriting Rafe’s personality. His first instinct is still personal, and his anger toward Groff gives him his own reason to stay involved in the hunt. Starkey described Rafe’s conflict with Groff as the culmination of resentment and revenge that had been building inside him. The Pogues happen to need the same man stopped, making cooperation useful long before it becomes comfortable.

Chandler Groff gives Rafe and the Pogues a common enemy

Groff is the clearest reason the alliance survives into Season 5. He manipulates nearly everyone involved in the Blue Crown hunt, attacks Rafe and eventually murders JJ even after JJ surrenders the Crown to save Kiara. Groff then escapes with the treasure, leaving the Pogues stranded in Morocco and determined to pursue him. Season 5 continues that conflict, with Netflix confirming that Groff remains at large while the surviving Pogues attempt to avenge JJ.

Rafe therefore has no reason to protect Groff and several reasons to help bring him down. Their goals overlap even if their feelings about one another do not. The final season’s first eight minutes show Groff preparing to sell the Blue Crown to a buyer in Portugal, giving the group another immediate reason to continue the pursuit. What began as Rafe chasing his own interests has become part of the Pogues’ larger fight.

Related: Outer Banks Season 5 Puts Rafe on the Pogues’ Side, But He Hasn’t Become One

Sarah changes Rafe more than the treasure does

The real emotional bridge between Rafe and the Pogues is Sarah. Their relationship has been poisoned by Ward’s manipulation and Rafe’s violence for most of the series, but Season 4 finally lets the siblings speak honestly about what happened to their family. During the hunt in Agapenta, Sarah tells Rafe that Ward died protecting her, and Rafe finally listens rather than immediately blaming her. They are forced to acknowledge that, after Ward’s death and everything else the Camerons have lost, they are essentially the family each other has left.

The creators have said this shift was deliberate. Jonas Pate explained that the writers wanted to redeem Rafe “a little bit,” particularly through Sarah, and liked the idea of placing the siblings in an unlikely alignment going into Season 5. Madelyn Cline also said Sarah wanted some kind of truce with her brother and believed Ward would have wanted the two of them to find one. That reconciliation gives Rafe a connection to the Pogues that goes beyond treasure.

Has Rafe actually become a Pogue?

No, at least not in any official sense. Season 5 promotional material continues to call Rafe’s relationship with the group an “uneasy alliance,” which is a carefully chosen description. The Pogues may fight beside him, travel with him and depend on him, but none of that erases what he has done to Sarah or the others. Netflix’s own Season 4 discussion frames the question as whether Rafe is becoming aligned with them rather than declaring him a new member of the group.

Starkey offered a better description of what has happened between them. After surviving several life-or-death situations together, he said there is a kind of bonding that comes from being “in the trenches” on the same side. Rafe may not particularly like the Pogues, and some of them have every reason not to trust him, but circumstances have made their old rivalry less important than survival. Season 5 appears interested in testing whether that temporary alignment can become something more meaningful.

JJ’s death makes the alliance harder to break

JJ’s murder changes the motive behind the final treasure hunt. The creators have said that his death becomes the emotional foundation of Season 5, replacing the group’s familiar desire for money with something much more personal. Groff killed one of the Pogues and took the Blue Crown, while Rafe was already caught in the same conflict. Netflix’s final-season synopsis consequently places Rafe alongside the surviving group as they try to stop themselves from falling apart.

There is also a practical reason Rafe remains useful. The Pogues return from Morocco without the Crown, without JJ and eventually without a secure home on Kildare Island. They are facing Groff, Dalia and the Corsairs while the Kooks are also working against them. Rafe understands the Kook world better than almost anyone and has resources and connections the Pogues often lack, which makes him a valuable ally even when trust remains complicated.

Rafe’s final test is whether the change lasts

Rafe is working with the Pogues because Season 4 dismantled the reasons that once kept them completely separated. Ward is gone, Sarah is beginning to forgive her brother, Groff is their shared enemy and surviving Morocco has forced Rafe into experiences he cannot dismiss as simply another Kook versus Pogue feud. The alliance is real, but his redemption is not complete. That is precisely why Rafe’s position in Season 5 is more interesting than simply declaring that he has switched sides.

The final question is whether Rafe remains beside Sarah and the Pogues when cooperation stops benefiting him. His past makes betrayal believable, while the last stretch of Season 4 makes genuine change believable too. Outer Banks has spent years showing Rafe desperately trying to become the person Ward wanted him to be. Season 5 may instead determine whether he can finally choose the person he wants to become.