Once a Pogue, not always a Pogue. At least physically.
The beloved Netflix series Outer Banks officially came to its conclusion when the fifth and final season began streaming on Aug 20. For 33-year-old Chase Stokes, it marked the end of his stint as teenager John B, allowing him to grow quite literally into new roles.
“When I was doing Outer Banks, I was intermittent fasting almost until two o'clock every day,” he revealed to Men’s Health in an interview published Aug. 26. “Just so I could keep the weight off with John B., and I was drinking upwards of a gallon of water in that time to keep myself full.”
Now, as Stokes prepares to step into the shoes of pit crew member Ronnie Whitlock on the upcoming series Thunder Road alongside Dennis Quaid, his entire routine has shifted gears.
“Now, I wake up at 7 a.m., fast until 10 or 11, and have a hearty breakfast,” he explained. “Then, I go to the gym, and when I come back, I have a protein shake. Later, I have another oomph of protein.”
“There was a lot of lighter weight, higher reps with John B. to sort of keep that lean look, and now, it's a lot more of heavy compound lifts,” he added. “It's almost sort of mirroring a version of what a wide receiver, or even a tight end, would do. A lot of cleans, squats, Bulgarian split squats, deadlifts. I’m benching for the first time in a long time, trying to hit maxes. I’m really building out my frame versus with John B., I had to be kind of lanky and lean.”
But this physical change marks more than just a new role—it’s also the beginning of a new chapter emotionally and mentally.
“I've been playing a teenager through my late 20s and early 30s,” he said. “I'm sort of already in the box of John B., so I was like, ‘Okay, I need to do something. I need to show the world that I am not a child with floppy, blonde hair.’ It's salt and pepper now. I have a beard. I've always loved when artists or human beings go through transformations.”
But undergoing a metamorphosis can be intimidating for anyone, let alone someone living so squarely in the public eye.
“I've always kind of struggled with body dysmorphia,” Stokes—who embarked on an on-again, off-again relationship with Kelsea Ballerini after dating Outer Banks costar Madelyn Cline—said. “The internet falls in love with the blonde-haired boy with the six-pack abs and then wonders why I don’t always look like that. I've gone through a lot of scrutiny and a lot of condescending stuff over the years about my body, and it's really messed with my mental health at times.”
Now, however, “we get to start fresh,” he added. “We get to build something that is really cool and entirely different. And you don't have to worry about the aesthetics. You can just focus on the work and the art and making sure that you're showing up well for the job.”
After all, behind the sandy-haired boy running around the barrier islands of North Carolina was the man himself.
“I just want the world to see me,” Stokes reflected. “That's a scary, vulnerable thing to say.”
For more stars who have gotten candid about changing their physical makeup for a role, read on.
The Magic Mike star's weight has fluctuated over the years, especially in 2024, as he got into character for two back-to-back movie roles.
He said on Instagram in March 2025 that he weighed 205 pounds—up from the 172 pounds he weighed for Roofman (pictured, right). Months before beginning production on that 2024 film, he shot the movie Josephine (pictured, left) and weighed 235 pounds for his role.
For his Oscar-nominated role as musician Bob Dylan in 2024's A Complete Unknown, the Dune actor learned how to sing and play guitar.
"I also put on 20 pounds," he said during a January 2025 episode NPR’s All Things Considered podcast, "because, believe it or not, I was thinner than the guy.”
To play scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer in Christopher Nolan's 2023 thriller Oppenheimer, the Irish actor "had to lose quite a bit of weight," he shared. "He was very slim, almost emaciated, existed on martinis and cigarettes."
His diet? According to costar Emily Blunt, "He had such a monumental undertaking.And he could only eat, like, an almond every day."
For his Joker role, the Oscar winner opened up about his 52-pound weight loss, telling the Associated Press in 2019, "Once you reach the target weight, everything changes. Like so much of what's difficult is waking up every day and being obsessed over like 0.3 pounds. Right? And you really develop like a disorder."
The Spider-Man alum shocked fans when he debuted bulging biceps ahead of his appearance as Commissioner Gordon in 2017's Justice League.
"I'd say my mother was worried," he previously told E! News after losing 30 pounds for the 2014 thriller Nightcrawler. "I would say she just wanted me to be careful. But she also knew and knows how seriously I take what I do and she respects that."
The Pirates of the Caribbean alum detailed the physical and emotional toll of losing 52 pounds for his 2024 boxing movie The Cut.
“I was exhausted mentally, physically. I was hangry,” he said on This Morning. “I was a horrible person to be around. The paranoia, the intrusive thoughts.”
“I wouldn’t recommend doing it at home, by the way,” he continued. “It was definitely not something to take lightly.”
The Black Panther star gained nearly 30 pounds of muscle to transform into a rookie-turned-professional boxer in the 2015 sports drama Creed.
The Mindy Project alum had to gain 40 pounds for his role in the 2016 action drama Live by Night.
The Bridget Jones's Diary actress famously gained weight to portray the lovable titular character in the franchise's first and second films.
The Magic Mike stud dropped 30 pounds to star in The Dallas Buyer's Club—which centered on the real-life story of a man dying from AIDS in the 1980s, who treated himself with alternative remedies he smuggled from Mexico into the United States.
The actor and musician nabbed an Oscar for his riveting role in 2013's The Dallas Buyers Club. He lost 40 pounds for the role of a fictional HIV/AIDS patient.
The actress looked lean and strong for her starring role in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. And she fully committed to her piercing performance. "Because of all the tattoos and the makeup and the piercings, and the physical transformations my body has to go through," she explained to Allure, "it would always feel sort of like I was in costume, even if I was naked."
While Hathaway earned an Oscar for her turn as a famished orphan in Les Misérables, swiftly dropping 25 pounds definitely took its toll.
"I'd lost an unhealthy amount of weight in two weeks," she told People. "I didn't know anything about nutrition. I taxed my body, and my brain bore the brunt of it for a while. I just felt very anxious and very lost at that time."
Bale is certainly no stranger to morphing for movie roles. In 2004, he lost more than 60 pounds for his role in The Machinist, and he did it again for the film The Fighter, opposite Mark Wahlberg. He also gained 40 pounds for American Hustle—and lost 70 pounds for Ford v Ferrari.
The actor looked more like a god than a prince for his role in 2010's Prince of Persia. Gyllenhaal said he studied Parkour, the French art of street running, in order to bulk up for the film.
"All it is is time and discipline," the Oscar winner told Time magazine of his role in 2000's Cast Away, that saw him lose more than 50 pounds to play a man stranded on an uninhabited island.
The ripped rapper shocked fans with a 2010 photo of himself looking slender. He reportedly went from 214 to 160 pounds in just nine weeks to play a football player diagnosed with cancer in 2011's All Things Fall Apart.
Shaping up for movie roles is nothing new. The legendary actor earned an Oscar nom for his role as terrifying tattooed rapist Max Cady in the 1991 thriller Cape Fear.
In order to portray former Vice President Dick Cheney in the 2018 biopic Vice, the star sported a fuller figure.