Looking back. It’s hard to look back at teen dramas without remembering One Tree Hill. Between the relationships, the friendships and the shocking deaths and dramas, it has become one of the most memorable in history.
The series, created by Mark Schwahn, aired for nine seasons from 2003 to 2012. It premiered on The WB then moved over to The CW in 2006 when The WB was discontinued. The show was set in the fictional town of Tree Hill, North Carolina, where two half-brothers, Lucas Scott (Chad Michael Murray) and Nathan Scott (James Lafferty), struggle to both exist in the same town, high school and basketball team.
Hilarie Burton, Sophia Bush, Bethany Joy Lenz, Paul Johansson, Craig Sheffer, Moira Kelly, Antwon Tanner, Lee Norris and Barbara Alyn Woods made up the main cast when the series debuted.
Throughout the show, the main love triangle existed between Lucas, Brooke (Bush) and Peyton (Burton). However, in 2020, Burton explained that in her mind, Peyton and Brooke’s friendship was always the main “love story” on the show.
“The love stories with all the boys, those were fun, those were important, but Sophia and I had to fight for our own friendship,” the author said at the time. “A lot of people wanted to pit us against each other. You know, it’s like, ‘Oh, Hilarie won’t do this, but Sophia will,’ and ‘She’s the pretty one,’ and ‘She’s the this one.’ There’s so much comparison that, as a young person, it’s hard to navigate. She and I now can look back at it and be like, ‘All those bastards. No, no, no. We’re the love story.’ The female friendships were important on that show.”
The timeline hopped around through the nine seasons. High school ended at the end of season 4 and when season 5 returned the following year, four years had passed and the characters had already graduated from college and were now around 22 years old.
In season 7, there was another timeline jump, with story skipping ahead 14 months to give a better explanation for the exits of Murray and Burton. Burton later revealed that a big reason for her exit from the show was creator Schwahn. In 2019, Burton, Bush and 16 other women involved in the show came forward and accused the producer of sexual harassment.
Over the nine seasons, multiple other actors joined the show including Stephen Colletti, Danneel Harris, Lisa Goldstein, Robert Buckley, Austin Nichols and Shantel VanSanten.
Scroll through the gallery below to see where the cast is today.