Charles Esten Pitches How His Character Could Return to ‘Outer Banks’

Don’t count Charles Esten out of the Outer Banks universe just yet.

The actor, 58, bid farewell to the series when his character Ward fell off of a cliff at the end of season 3 — but he’s got a pitch for how he could sneakily return to the show.

“How about — and I’m just pitching this to the producers — his long lost even more evil twin,” Esten quipped to Us Weekly exclusively while attending CMA Fest on Friday, June 7, in Nashville. “I could have a pencil thin mustache.”

He added, “All kidding aside, they’re just about to complete the fourth season. … It was very difficult not being there with them. … I know it’s gonna be special.”

Esten noted that he was “glad” Ward met his demise, explaining that the plot would have gotten stale if the villainous character had overstayed his welcome.

“I honestly didn’t want to be, in the end, the bad guy that sort of hung around forever,” he told Us. “After a while, you’re not that intimidating at all… and the way that it did end, I thought, was very poetic, very moving.”

Now that he’s exited the teen drama, Esten is focusing on his upcoming music tour,  which will see him traveling across the country performing in venues from Connecticut to Wisconsin. The actor and performer released his album Love Ain’t Pretty in January and shared with Us how excited he is about this new chapter in his career.

“All these things came to me later in life,” he explained. “All my contemporaries are now winding down their careers … I’m just starting. But that feels great to me. It’s nice to be at the foot of another mountain.”

Esten credited his starring role as country singer Deacon Claybourne on Nashville for propelling his music career forward.

“​​I could have never imagined a show like Nashville bringing me to Nashville, reopening this musical career,” he shared. “I started out as a musician, as a singer songwriter in college. It was a long circuitous route, but in the end, I always feel like I’m where I’m meant to be. And that’s a good feeling.”

Reporting by Jeremy Parsons