Mark Schwahn preps “One Tree Hill” for another season of change

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PASADENA, CALIF. | When the locally filmed drama series “One Tree Hill” returns Monday night, the seven-year-old show will once again jump ahead in time – this time just 14 months. It’s a move that series creator Mark Schwahn hopes will help fans mourning the loss of series regulars Chad Michael Murray as Lucas and Hilarie Burton as Peyton to accept new characters and storylines.

A time jump worked before: Season five began four years after the end of season four, as all the regular characters returned to the fictional town of Tree Hill after going their separate ways for college.

So is this season sort of a season five redux?

“It’s not as radical,” Schwahn says, “but in terms of new cast…. In season 5 we introduced a bunch of new characters. We’ve done that again. We were losing two really important cast members and we wanted to add some new faces, and I thought if some time had passed, that will really help me as opposed to everyone just showing up at the same time.”

To that end, some newbies, like Robert Buckley’s sports agent Clay, have come into the characters’ lives long before audiences join the action. Others, like Haley’s sister Quinn (Shantel VanSanten), show up in town for the first time in the premiere.

“My fan base doesn’t love new characters,” Schwahn says. “Historically they always thought the new characters were taking time away from their beloved characters.” Indeed, many fans cite the introduction of new characters Felix (Michael Copon) and Anna (Daniella Alonso) in season two as one of the show’s biggest missteps. “So one of the reasons I brought Quinn in -- we had mentioned Quinn a few times but we never met her. We knew Haley had this big family, and I thought, “You know, the audience really likes Haley and if a sister comes in who’s close to Haley then maybe through osmosis they’ll like her, too.”

With Buckley’s character, who manages basketballer Nathan, Schwahn hopes to explore what happens to those who mix friendship and business. “Nathan’s in a contract year – so he’s unemployed – and one of his closest friends is also in charge of making sure his family is taken care of and his career is taken care of. That compelled me.”

And speaking of Buckley, original press notes about the character revealed his name as Clayton. So was that on purpose, seeing how “Leyton” (as fans dubbed Murray and Burton’s characters) had left the building?

“It was coincidental,” Schwahn says with a laugh. “Somebody pointed it out online, and I was like, ‘Oooh, it looks like we did that on purpose.’ So we never call him Clayton. We only called him Clay.”

Fans do have the departure of Leyton to thank for meatier storylines for the remaining orginal characters – Brooke (Sophia Bush), Nathan (James Lafferty) and Haley (Bethany Joy Galeotti).

“We can be more active with them now,” Schwahn says. “Lucas and Peyton served as a conduit for those characters. We only learned about them as they were servicing Lucas and Peyton.”

Now, Brooke will spend more time exploring her relationship with movie producer Julian (Austin Nichols), who has been away making movies since she declared her love for him in last season’s finale. And Nathan and Haley’s marriage will be tested when he gets caught up in a scandal.

Schwahn also promises the return of Daphne Zuniga as Brooke’s overbearing mom and possibly Ashley Rickards as wayward teen Sam.

“I’m hoping to see Ashley. I got an e-mail from her, and I said, ‘Listen, stay unemployed because I would love to see you again.’ We don’t have concrete plans to see Sam, but on our writers’ board in our writers’ room, we have ‘Brooke visits Sam or Sam visits Brooke.’ And I think it is something that compels us (as storytellers).”



SOURCE : Mark Schwahn preps “One Tree Hill” for another season of change |StarNewsOnline.com | Star News | Wilmington, NC