Start blasting Gavin DeGraw’s “I Don’t Want to Be” from your stereo, because a One Tree Hill sequel series is reportedly in the works.
Netflix is developing a new version of One Tree Hill, with original stars Sophia Bush, Hilarie Burton Morgan and Danneel Ackles serving as executive producers, Variety reported on Friday, August 30. (The project will be under Danneel, 45, and husband Jensen Ackles’ Chaos Machine banner.)
Burton Morgan and Bush, both 42, who played Peyton Sawyer and Brooke Davis, respectively, are reportedly set to reprise their roles. Danneel, who joined the show as Rachel during season 3, is also in talks to appear on screen. Christmas in Louisiana director and producer Emily Wilson will be a producer on the project, according to Deadline. (Wilson has worked with several OTH alums for Lifetime holiday movies.)
One Tree Hill premiered in 2003 on The WB. It followed half-brothers and basketball rivals Nathan (James Lafferty) and Lucas Scott (Chad Michael Murray) as they navigated their high school years in the fictional town of Tree Hill, North Carolina. After three seasons on The WB, the network became The CW and OTH continued for six more seasons.
The original cast included cheerleaders Brooke (Bush) and Peyton (Burton), who are best friends despite fighting for Lucas’ love. Bethany Joy Lenz rounded out the original cast as Haley James Scott, Lucas’ BFF and Nathan’s wife.
Both Murray, 43, and Burton Morgan exited the series in 2009, with Murray making a cameo during a season 9 episode in 2012. Lafferty, 39, Lenz, 43, and Bush all remained on the show until its end in 2012.
After the series conclusion, Bush, Burton Morgan and Lenz were among the women in the cast who accused creator Mark Schwahan of being inappropriate on set.
“Mark Schwahn’s behavior over the duration of the filming of One Tree Hill was something of an ‘open secret.’ Many of us were, to varying degrees, manipulated psychologically and emotionally. More than one of us is still in treatment for post-traumatic stress,” the actresses alleged to Variety in 2017. “Many of us were put in uncomfortable positions and had to swiftly learn to fight back, sometimes physically, because it was made clear to us that the supervisors in the room were not the protectors they were supposed to be. Many of us were spoken to in ways that ran the spectrum from deeply upsetting, to traumatizing, to downright illegal. And a few of us were put in positions where we felt physically unsafe. More than one woman on our show had her career trajectory threatened.”
A rep for Schwahan, 58, declined to comment on the record to Variety on any of the allegations, which included Burton Morgan accusing the showrunner of sexually harassing her on several occasions. Burton Morgan’s claims were backed up by Danneel, as well as other female crew members.
Murray, who has been an ally for his female costars, revealed in 2021 that he was open to a reboot, but made it clear Schwahan couldn’t be at the helm. “I believe at some point, I’m sure there will be some new iteration of One Tree Hill,” Murray told TV Fanatic in June 2021. “Who knows? But I think it would have to be taken under new guidance and let out into the world.”
He added, “I’ve always heard things over the years, but nothing ever came to fruition. But hey, you never know.”
Earlier this year, Bush explained that her mindset about a revival has shifted in recent years. “What I will say is I think for a long time our answer on that was a firm no, we were really ready to put it to bed,” she confessed to E! News in January. “And then with the girls and I deciding that that was our show and we deserve to reclaim it, now we’re like, ‘Well what would a feminist reclamation of our show look like?’”
Bush, who began cohosting the “Drama Queens” podcast with Burton Morgan and Lenz in 2021, teased she would “never say never” about revival her character. “I don’t have any answers from you but things change over time,” she added. (Burton Morgan took a step back from the podcast in 2024 after the group got to season 7. Robert Buckley, who joined the show that season, is now a “Drama Queens” cohost.)
Us Weekly has reached out to Netflix for comment.
