Sophia Bush Reveals Reason for Agreeing to ‘One Tree Hill’ Revival

A One Tree Hill revival is coming to Netflix with Sophia Bush attached to the project, and the actress is opening up about what finally made her say yes.

Bush, along with Hilarie Burton-Morgan, were previously announced to be developing a new sequel series for the streaming giant, set years after the events of the beloved CW/WB series. Although excited for the series now, Bush was initially against bringing back OTH, but she told Deadline the reason why she gave in.

“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,” the Chicago P.D. alum explained. “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.”

It also certainly helps that Bush and Burton-Morgan are making sure that the environment this time around feels a lot safer following the sexual harassment claims made against One Tree Hill creator Mark Schwahn. Burton-Morgan previously expressed how vital it is having an all-female team and Bush expressed the same sentiments, saying 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,” Bush said. “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.” 

The new series, set 20 years after the OTH series finale, reportedly follows best friends Brooke Davis (Bush) and Peyton Sawyer (Burton-Morgan), who are parents to teens and facing challenges that are similar to those tackled in the original, such as love, insecurities, and grief. It comes from Warner Bros. TV and writer Becky Hartman Edwards, who serves as executive producer alongside Bush and Burton-Morgan. One Tree Hill alum Danneel Ackles and her husband, Jensen Ackles, executive produce through their Chaos Machine banner. Ackles is also in talks to return as Rachel. Emily Moss Wilson serves as the producer.