The couple is currently filming the sophomore season of the Netflix series.
Madelyn Cline and Chase Stokes are happy to have their relationship out in the open! ET's Katie Krause spoke to the 22-year-old The Giant actress, who revealed why it was finally time to go public with her Outer Banks co-star, and how doing so has affected their time on set.
"The show coming out was already a pretty big life change and just starting the whole quarantine process, that's a huge life change, going through a global pandemic and sharing an apartment with one bedroom with five, sometimes six people," Cline said of her and Stokes' reasons for initially keeping their relationship private. "I think we were just wanting to kind of give it some time and enjoy it while it's new and fresh and just kind of keep that to ourselves."
Eventually they went public, though, largely because "people were already speculating. People knew before we said anything."
Now that everything's out in the open, Cline said "love is tight."
"It's cool to share this experience with your favorite people and also your favorite person... I feel very happy," she gushed of Stokes and her other Outer Banks co-stars.
Though they're happily dating, Cline and Stokes make sure to maintain professional "boundaries" while on the set of the Netflix series.
"I think because we were friends before this, we understood how we worked as individuals before we were seeing each other. We knew how we worked professionally and we knew each other's personal boundaries," she said. "... As a rule, we never bring anything negative to set. If there's a disagreement or a conversation that needs to be had that could potentially rain on the parade for that day, that's never something that happens before work."
"When we go to set... we're individuals and we are still, at the very minimum, best friends and we are partners and we are screen partners. We're there to support each other," Cline continued. "Sometimes you give that person space. Sometimes you go and you pull them aside and you talk with them if they had a difficult scene and they need to download or whatever. It's whatever your partner needs at the time."
"I really, really love that and respect that about him and our relationship," she added.
While they are currently filming Outer Banks' second season, things are looking a little different this time around due to COVID-19.
"We're lucky and very fortunate to be back shooting right now. Filmmaking is a pretty intimate process. You get pretty close to people around you, you get to know your crew, hopefully you get really close to your cast. So it does feel like there is a bit of a barrier between what you're used to and what we're doing now," she said. "But, at the same time, we're a couple months in now and so we've kind of found our groove with it... We've gotten comfortable and we know what our boundaries are, we are learning how to operate in that and still have a good time."
As for the plot of the second season, Cline remained mostly mum, only confirming that "there is a micro time jump" and the cliffhanger "does get answered."
"[There's] the kind of shock where you turn the page... and you read that moment and you [gasp] and then your mind starts going a thousand miles a minute," she teased. "You're like, 'Oh my gosh, this is going to be so fun to shoot... This is gonna be fun and it's gonna be shocking to watch as well.'"
"I want people to watch this without knowing too much," she added. "I want people... going into it kind of blind, [but] the stakes are higher and the mystery gets deeper."
Aside from Outer Banks, Cline is gearing up for the release of her new flick, The Giant, which she thinks will appeal to fans of the Netflix series.
"With Outer Banks, it's the best time of your life, feel-good type mystery, treasure hunt. And then with this, it's kind of gritty and it feels visceral and it kind of messes with your head," she said. "... If you like a mind twister, you'll like it."
Cline described The Giant as "creepy" and "psychological," sharing that she decided to take on the project because "it was a real page-turner."
"I love films that really leave you thinking for a couple days afterwards, you just can't get it out of your head. In that way, I really love thrillers and psychological horror movies, and this was kind of all of that in one indie," she said. "... It was a really, really interesting script. It was very, very poetic and I think all of that just really intrigued me. I just remember finishing the script thinking, 'I have to be a part of this. I will do anything.'"
The Giant will be available On Demand Nov. 13.
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