CHASE STOKES ENTERS A NEW ERA

AFTER FIVE YEARS ON THE HIT TV SERIES OUTER BANKS, THE ACTOR IS READY TO TAKE HIS CAREER TO THE NEXT LEVEL

- BRIANNE TRACY

A smile spreads across Chase Stokes's face as he lowers himself into a folding director's chair on the set of his People shoot at a studio in Los Angeles in early August."

Something that stands true on every film set is these canvas, uncomfortable seats," he says. "Every time I sit in this chair, I get a little bit giddy because it's either the start of a new chapter or new relationship." It's fitting, then, that the actor is entering what he calls "chapter 2" of his career. After five years of playing the beloved John B. Routledge on Netflix's teen drama Outer Banks, Stokes is ready for new challenges.

Now that he's 32, "it's kind of that time," he says. He's already started making moves: He next stars opposite Joey King in the Netflix film adaptation of Uglies, based on the dystopian 2005 novel, premiering Sept. 13. He'll also play a tattoo artist with a fiery temper in The Notebook director Nick Cassavetes's upcoming romance Marked Men and an army captain in the thriller Valiant One in 2025.

"There really isn't anything off-limits," says Stokes, who also has plans to produce. "I'm making sure that I'm really attacking my career with no restraints."