‘Outer Banks’ Star Chase Stokes Reveals His Stand-In Died In Hit-And-Run

Chase Stokes, the breakout star of the Netflix series Outer Banks, revealed that he’s been devastated by the sudden death of his stand-in Alexander “AJ” Jennings, who moved from New York to the show’s South Carolina filming location for the job.

A stand-in is a position in production where someone of similar height to the project’s actual actor stands in the frame while the crew goes through the process of setting up and lighting each shot. This helps actors rest between takes and makes the film crew’s job much easier.

The Charleston County Sheriff’s office reported that Jennings was struck by a vehicle around 2:30 a.m. that fled the scene, and was hit by another car after according to witnesses. Charleston police are still trying to find information on the first vehicle involved in the crash.

Stokes seemed to have a good friendship with Jennings according to his July 6 Instagram story posts. “My heart is shattered. Your life was just starting,” Stokes wrote. “We JUST talked about how pumped you were about your tunes, how far you’d come with that ole 6-string and your want to keep creating art. Always making others hearts warm and being so damn selfless.”

“We all love you, you touched all of our lives and made us all better people and for that, Thank you AJ,” Stokes finished.

Kimmie Stewart Casting, who hired Jennings, announced the tragic news on their social media pages. “AJ was a beautiful, kind soul & a bright light every day on set,” it said in a statement, and also advised any cast and crew affected by the accident to make use of Netflix’s grief counseling service provided through HR.