Fiona Palomo Says It Was ‘Terrifying’ Becoming a member of Outer Banks as Drew Starkey’s Lover (Unique)

Fiona Palomo was feeling some nerves becoming a member of the tight-knit solid of Outer Banks — and it did not assist that she was approaching as a love curiosity to one of many present’s most thirsted-after characters.

Palomo, 26, was first launched as Sofia in season 3 of the Netflix collection (earlier than she was upped to collection common for season 4), and he or she tells PEOPLE it was “terrifying” to consider how followers would react to her character’s blossoming romance with Rafe Cameron (Drew Starkey).

“It is like, ‘I am about upset a variety of girls on the market,'” she jokes. “But it surely’s cool. It is unimaginable to be on a venture…the place persons are so invested within the characters and what’s occurring.”

“It is cool to be like, ‘Oh God, I do not know the way this character’s going to be obtained, as a result of it is like this character and it is this actor and it is all these little issues,'” she provides. “However I feel that simply speaks to how massive of a factor [Outer Banks] is, and I am simply so blissful that individuals have been sort to me [thus] far.”

She even introduced it as much as Starkey, 30, himself, who is not as unaware of the web thirst for him because it might sound. She remembers, “We’d simply be sitting on set, I would be like, ‘I do know when this comes out, it should be like, ‘Avoid him!’ And we’d chuckle about it. He is like, ‘Yeah, in all probability.'”

Although it was “a bit of formidable to see how [Sofia] was going to be obtained” forward of the Oct. 10 premiere of season 4 half 1, Palomo says, “I really feel just like the love — or the kindness — I put into Sofia, and simply ensuring that character labored effectively and all the pieces, is getting blown again and it simply feels actually well-received and really beloved and it is very nice. I am actually, actually grateful.”

It reveals her how “invested” the followers are, she says earlier than including, “I’ve simply seen actually, actually sort issues, and so they actually like her, and so they’re even defending her and being like, ‘Sofia, you deserve higher.’ I am like, ‘What is going on on?'”

Palomo has nothing however flattering issues to say about working with Starkey — who’s performed the indignant, violent older brother to Madelyn Cline’s Sarah Cameron since season 1 — as she describes him as “so sort, skilled and welcoming.”

He could not be extra totally different from his character, she affirms. “I used to be flown out to Charleston to perform a little chem learn with him, I assume, and that is once I met him. And I bear in mind — you will have this daunting picture of Rafe and clearly you are conscious it is an actor — however he was simply very nice.”

That simply speaks to “how wonderful of an actor” he’s, she says.

“He actually cares for his craft a lot, and I do too, so it was actually lovely to have the ability to have somebody care that a lot to take a seat down and make sense out of those characters and have it really feel like they’ve spent all this time collectively that you simply by no means see onscreen.”

Constructing Rafe and Sofia’s backstory collectively was an essential a part of their prep for season 4, Palomo says, because the new installment sees their relationship progress to the purpose that Rafe is making guarantees about their future collectively.

She is aware of, too, that simply taking a look at Sofia, a “Pogue” with a working-class household, “You simply need to sit down and be like, ‘Sofia, we have to discuss this.'”

However she sees some nuance to the dangerous boy, good lady cliché of all of it, notably contemplating Sofia’s household’s cultural background. She shares, “[She’s] very heat and it’s totally straightforward [for her] to lean into folks and belief and need to type of maintain them. So I feel she actually thinks — [being with Rafe is] not intimidating to her. I feel she’s simply very able to embrace all his components and all the pieces that he’s.”

The PEOPLE Puzzler crossword is right here! How rapidly are you able to clear up it? Play now!

“It is actually unimaginable that via some kindness and love, an individual may doubtlessly truly be extra in contact with themselves,” she says of how Sofia may be altering Rafe, who has been “via such loopy occasions,” together with the loss of life of his father, Ward Cameron (Charles Esten) in season 3.

As for the rumors that Starkey is perhaps probably the most aloof of the solid?

“I am conscious of this myself, however I additionally watch my castmates discuss how simply unaware he’s of his mobile phone generally. Like, interval,” she says. “However that is cool. He is like this cool nineties child. He is similar to, ‘I do not know the place I left my cellphone. It could possibly be wherever on the set.’ And it is cool. He is simply dwelling.”

By no means miss a narrative — join PEOPLE’s free day by day publication to remain up-to-date on the most effective of what PEOPLE has to supply​​, from celeb information to forcing human curiosity tales. 

Half 1 of Outer Banks season 4 is now streaming on Netflix, and Half 2 premieres Nov. 7.