There’s only one Tree Hill, but luckily for fans, Sophia Bush and pals are giving the show a second life.
The Drama Queens podcast co-host told Deadline she’s “pumped” about the upcoming revival of her WB/CW drama One Tree Hill, which originally ran for nine seasons from 2003 to 2012, after we reported in August that a sequel series was in the works at Netflix with Bush and Hilarie Burton-Morgan attached to reprise their roles.
“We’ve been asked about bringing the show back for so long, and I think for so many years, all of us said that would be a hard no,” she said at the iHeartPodcasts Awards during SXSW at ACL Live on Monday. “And really, the podcast has given all of us this sort of opportunity to have a homecoming. And to get to analyze what was so special about it in the first place has made that more of a possibility.”
Returning as an executive producer with Burton-Morgan and writer/EP Becky Hartman Edwards, Bush explained it’s “really exciting to work on such an amazing female leadership team.”
“It’s also really exciting to be at this stage in our lives where everyone gets to bring what they love to do to the table,” she continued. “Some of us have become TV producers, some of us have become authors, some of us are music producers and everyone’s getting to bring their particular executive skill to the table now in ways that we didn’t get to do when we were in our mid-20s, so we’re pumped about that.”
Bush added, “I think it’s always a bummer when something leaks before it’s official because we’re not across the finish line with it yet. But I have loved the whole process.”
The sequel is said to take place 20 years after the original, following best friends Brooke Davis (Bush) and Peyton Sawyer (Burton-Morgan), who are now parents to teens and facing challenges not unfamiliar to what they tackled in the original series like love, insecurities and grief, we understand.
The project hails from writer/executive producer Becky Hartman Edwards and Warner Bros. TV. Danneel and her husband Jensen Ackles are executive producing the project through their Chaos Machine banner with the former in talks to return as Rachel Scott. Emily Moss Wilson is a producer.
