Reboot culture continues! When it comes to bringing back classic TV series, no teen show is safe — that’s why fans are vying for a One Tree Hill reboot. But what have the show’s stars said about returning to the fictional Tree Hill, North Carolina? They’ve actually spoken out a lot over the years.
One Tree Hill aired on The CW from 2003 to 2012. Throughout the show’s nine seasons, tons of main cast members came and went as their star power grew. Some of the more notable stars included Chad Michael Murray, James Lafferty, Hilarie Burton Morgan, Sophia Bush and Bethany Joy Lenz. Actors Tyler Hilton, Jana Kramer, Danneel Harris Ackles and Austin Nichols, among others, also appeared on the show while it was on the air.
When it started, the series followed the story of two half-brothers, Nathan (James) and Lucas Scott (Chad), as they coexisted in the same world. As the show continued and the actors got older, their characters graduated high school and One Tree Hill followed them through adulthood. Once the series officially came to an end, questions of if and when the show would be rebooted started to arise.
While some stars have hoped that the original cast would be able to get back into character for some sort of reunion, others have shut down the idea of a reboot for specific reasons. Bethany (who played Haley James Scott) and Jana (who played Alex Dupre) said it would be difficult to bring back the show without disgraced showrunner Mark Schwahn, who was accused of harassment by multiple female cast members in 2017. Per Us Weekly, he never responded to the allegations.
“The problem is the creator of the show, on any incarnation of the show … that’s a big issue,” Bethany explained on the “Whine Down with Jana Kramer” podcast in August 2019. “And I think that would be the big thing standing in the way. Unless he was willing to donate it all or something.”
During the same interview, Jana added that the cast felt very “divided” on set. Bethany added, “It would be great to go back and not have it feel like it was divided in any way or when we were going through a rough patch.”
Similarly, Hilarie (who played Peyton Sawyer) noted in a March 2021 Twitter post that she would love a One Tree Hill “do-over with a girl boss.”
Scroll through our gallery to see what the cast of One Tree Hill has said about rebooting the show over the years.
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