Rachel Bilson Shares Whether She’d Be up for Potential ‘O.C.’ Revival (Exclusive)

More than 10 years later, the opening chords of Phantom Planet’s “California,” the theme song for The O.C., hits just the same for fans of the series. Given that there has been a recent “revival renaissance” within Hollywood, could a reboot of The O.C. happen sometime in the future? Star Rachel Bilson revealed to PopCulture.com exclusively that she would be on board with the idea.

When asked about whether she would be down to be a part of an O.C. revival, Bilson shared that she very much be open to it. “I’m pretty much a yes person in a lot of ways. Josh [Schwartz, O.C. creator] is family to me. I would always do anything with The O.C.,” Bilson told PopCulture exclusively while discussing her partnership with Amazon for the holiday season. “It gave me everything I have and I’ll never forget that. And I look back at that experience being like, ‘Wow, that was really cool. I was so young.’ But, it was a great experience.”

As for whether she stays in touch with the cast, Bilson added that she’s still close with Melinda Clarke (Julie Cooper) and Schwartz. She added, “I ran into Adam [Brody] on a flight like a year ago. It was so good to see him. But, other than that, I haven’t really talked to anybody. I hope everyone’s doing well.”

While Bilson would be interested in an O.C. revival, it doesn’t appear as though a possible reboot will be making its way to Fox, the network on which the series initially aired, anytime soon. In January of 2020, Fox Entertainment boss Michael Thorn told Deadline that an O.C. revival “will not happen” on the network. He said, “The O.C. will not happen despite my deep passion for it to come back. No one is available, unfortunately. I would be lying if I said ‘I didn’t ask’ every June.” The O.C. originally ran for four seasons on Fox from 2003 to 2007.

Schwartz, who created The O.C., also shared that he doesn’t believe that there will be another season of the show. He said back in the summer of 2019 during the Summer TCA Press Tour, “We were asked about doing a return to The O.C. to see those kids grown up. For us, that was a very, very singular story. We felt like we completed that tale by the end.” However, now that Bilson has shared her interest for an O.C. revival (and now that Schwartz is already on the revival train with the upcoming Gossip Girl for HBO Max), could the other members of the Fox show’s family follow suit? Only time will tell. In the meantime, you can keep up with any O.C. and Bilson-related updates by staying up-to-date with PopCulture.com.