Austin Nichols is game to return to North Carolina for the One Tree Hill revival.
Nichols, 45, revealed whether or not he’d be open to joining Netflix’s upcoming revival of the WB/CW drama during his appearance at the Los Angeles premiere of I Know What You Did Last Summer on Monday, July 14.
“I would absolutely love to,” the actor, who played Julian Baker in the original series, told Deadline. “I spent a lot of years doing that show and fell in love with Wilmington, North Carolina, and made a lot of great friends there. We had a lot of fun. And ultimately, when something still has this kind of excitement around it this many years later, you kinda go, ‘Oh my God! Yeah, why not make more of it?’ People still watch it and love it.”
Nichols continued, “So, I think it could be great. I know that they’re writing scripts, and there’s been some notes and some back and forth. It sounds good. Hopefully we have some good news soon.”
One Tree Hill premiered in 2003 and ran for nine seasons, ending in 2012. The teen drama starred Chad Michael Murray, Sophia Bush, Hilarie Burton Morgan, James Lafferty, Bethany Joy Lenz, Paul Johansson, Moira Kelly, Barbara Alyn Woods, Lee Norris, Antwon Tanner and more.
Nichols’ character, Julian, joined the show in season 6 in 2008, going on to marry Bush’s character, Brooke Davis. The beloved onscreen couple welcomed a set of twin sons, Jude and Davis. At the end of the series, filmmaker Julian developed and produced a television series based on Lucas Scott’s (Murray) book, An Unkindness of Ravens.
Variety first reported in August 2024 that Netflix was developing a new version of One Tree Hill with Bush, 43, Morgan, 43, and former costar Daneel Ackles, with the project produced under Danneel, 45, and husband Jensen Ackles’ Chaos Machine banner.
Austin Nichols, Sophia Bush Fred Norris/ © The CW / Courtesy Everett Collection
The series is reportedly slated to follow Bush and Morgan as Brooke and best friend Peyton Sawyer, respectively, as they raise their teens in Tree Hill. Daneel is also said to be in talks to reprise her role as Rachel Gatina. Christmas in Louisiana director and producer Emily Wilson will serve as a producer, according to Deadline.
Bush later offered an update on the project in December 2024, revealing that it was still in development.
“It’s unfortunate when development news leaks early … that’s a bit of a bummer for us as we wanted to get it across the finish line and then have a party,” she told Access Hollywood. “But I will say the process is really incredible. The fans have kept that show alive and they’ve asked for it for so long, and then the studio came to us about it.”
Bush continued, “I think 10 years ago, I would have said, ‘Not on your life.’ Now I realize the opportunity to have not just a comfort show, but kind of a home base matters to people. So beginning to figure out how we might tell these stories and reunite our whole ragtag bunch feels really, really amazing. If it happens, I think you’ll be very pleased.”
