John Barrowman, Chad Michael Murray and cast members from "Nikita"
are among the TV guests who will attend C2E2 April 13-15 at McCormick
Place in Chicago.
Barrowman, whom "Torchwood" and "Doctor Who" know as Captain Jack
Harkness, will sign autographs April 14 and 15 and conduct a Q&A
session. Murray, former star of "One Tree Hill" and current graphic novelist ("Everlast") will have a panel and signing sessions.
The Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo has yet to announce which stars
from CW's "Nikita" series will attend, but I will let you know as soon
as I do. Other TV-related guests include Chris Hardwick of "Nerdist" and
"The Talking Dead," writer Jane Espenson and star Brad "Cheeks" Bell of
"Husbands,"
Josh Gates of "Destination Truth," Nicholas Brendon of "Buffy the
Vampire Slayer," Stephanie Izard of "Top Chef" and Chicago fave
Svengoolie.
Rejoice One Tree Hills fans who’ve been missing out on their weekly
Chad Michael Murray fix since he left the CW hit series (save one recent
appearance in the show’s final season): The actor has just landed a
juicy role in the ABC drama pilot Scruples, which is set in the ’70s and
is being produced by Natalie Portman. Yes, that Natalie Portman.
Original Tree Hill-ion Chad Michael Murray makes his long-awaited, final season
return to the soap that made him a three-named household name, and from
the looks of this exclusive behind-the-scenes snap, he’s done some
changing. Unfortunately, we’ll only get a quick reunion for our boy
Lucas and his bestie Haley (the perpetually fabulous Bethany Joy
Galeotti), since CMM, who left back in ’09, is only back for the Feb.
22nd episode.
“Yeah, he came back for one,” says executive producer Mark Schwahn,
quickly adding that fans should not read into the brevity of Murray’s
stay. In fact, it was Schwahn’s idea to put his star player back in the game
for a single shot instead of a longer arc. “I think he would have done
more, but I just felt that the story he’s back for was best served by
one episode.”
Chad Michael Murray (or quite possibly some unfortunately coiffed guy impersonating him) makes his triumphant return to One Tree Hill this Wednesday at 8/7c, and we’ve got a first look at his hotly-anticipated homecoming.
In the wake of his brother Nathan’s disappearance, Lucas comes back
to Tree Hill to lend a hand to his grieving friend, Haley. The reunion
is brief, but poignant — as is demonstrated in the photos below — and
will surely add a nice touch to the long-running CW saga’s final season.
Executive producer Mark Schwahn wanted Lucas Scott (Chad
Michael Murray) to return to One Tree Hill on Feb. 22 for the CW show’s
last season, but the homecoming had to feel organic. Fortunately, the
storyline presented a perfect opportunity: The husband of Lucas’
longtime buddy Haley (Bethany Joy Galeotti) is missing, So she’d
naturally turn to Lucas for a little support. “It’s a nice little gift
for fans who want to see him one last time,” Schwahn says.
The time has come, "One Tree Hill" fans. Next Wednesday's episode features a return appearance from Chad Michael Murray,
who left the series after Season 6 when contract negotiations with the
studio came to a standstill. Though Murray has been approached about a
return before, it wasn't until the series' cancellation was announced
that he agreed to come back for this episode.
"We tried to do it the last couple seasons, but I don't think Chad was ready to do it," executive producer Mark Schwahn tells Zap2it.
"It came down to him, and there was some back-and-forth, but it didn't
feel like everybody was willing to play nice. So this season, we reached
out again, and I think he was just in a better place. He saw that it
was the end of the series and he knows that the show was good to him and
he was good for the show. When you know that these are the last
episodes, it makes it easier to get a deal done, so the business of all
of it was a lot easier."
That said, any old drama immediately
evaporated when Murray arrived on set. "I hear Chad enjoyed his time
back in Wilmington with the crew and the
cast, and I hear they enjoyed him. Everybody said nice things. Everyone
said he was on his best behavior," adds Schwahn. "I think when you have
time away from anything, it allows your perspective to shift and mature,
and I think that was probably the case with Chad."
We visited
Murray on the Wilmington, NC set of the show in September. After we
watched him film some emotional scenes as Lucas, he sat down with us and
admitted that he initially hadn't planned to return. "It never really
crossed my mind, to be honest," he says. "I left the show and took a
year off. I went out into the woods and just traveled. It was
incredible. Then I came back and found this new love for what we do,
this art, and I finished my book. So it never really dawned on me, but
then the opportunity came across, and I knew how important it was to
these fans, who are everything to the show. And that was it."
He
says that he wasn't nervous about coming back to Wilmington and
returning to the cast and crew that he worked with for so many years. "I
filled my Xanax prescription. Big pills, I swear," he jokes, then waves
a hand. "No, absolutely not. I've got so many great friends here. I've
worked with this crew multiple times. We shot 'Dawson's Creek' together
and we shot this together. So it was cool to come back, because all my
buddies are here."
Lucas has been missing in action for quite a while, even though Haley (Bethany Joy Galeotti)
has been dutifully writing him letters and keeping him up to date on
her mercurial family life. When asked whether Lucas ever answered said
letters, Murray admits that he'd always figured that he did -- but the
script for the return episode says otherwise. "I decided that yes, he did, but we discover here that I haven't. So I guess I haven't," he says.
While
Lucas was still on the show, one of the most important and consistent
relationships in his life was with his best friend Haley, so it's only
appropriate that his return to the show is about being a good friend to
her, even though he hasn't been the best pen pal. The majority of
Murray's screen time is with Galeotti. She says it was "great" to work
with him again.
"I love Chad. He's also kind of like my dips*** little brother," she says, grinning. "I say that lovingly."
The
sentiment is shared. Well, at least the love part. "I love Joy. She's
so sweet. I've kept close with her over the years. I adore her, and
every time I'm here we grab food. She's just so f***ing gifted," he says
emphatically. "Excuse my language -- when you say someone's good and
how much talent they really truly possess, sometimes an expletive is the
only way to say it. I'm really, really, really glad to be working her,
and I told her that -- straight up front."
We've heard a bit of backlash from fans who were disappointed to learn that Lucas wouldn't reunite with Brooke (Sophia Bush),
but Bush assures us that it wasn't the result of any off-screen
tensions. "When I got the script and saw that Lucas was back, I called
Mark," she tells us, "and I told him that if he wanted to write scenes
where the whole gang gets together at Haley's house and talks about how
they're going to find Nathan, then he should write that. I've never
asked not to work with any former cast mates, and I'm certainly not
going to start now, in the final season. This show is too important to
me, and these characters are too important to me, and the fans are too
important to me."
Their paths don't cross, ultimately, because
while Haley manages the Nathan situation, Brooke has a harrowing
storyline of her own as Xavier, the criminal who assaulted her in Season
6, nears a potential prison release. "Brooke is notified that he is up
for parole and goes to see him," Schwahn says. "She has to make a
decision about whether or not she really believes he's changed or not,
whether he's rehabilitated."
As for Peyton's (Hilarie Burton)
whereabouts, Schwahn tells us that they did reach out to her and invite
her to return with Murray, but she declined. "We would have liked to
include Hilarie as well but she has a [son] now, and she has a job, and
she's doing well and she just felt like her free time away from work she
wanted to spend with her [son], which is a completely plausible, nice
answer," he says.
Murray says that while Lucas and Peyton are
still together and raising their daughter, Sawyer, few hints are dropped
about Peyton's life during the episode. "I don't want to give you all
the spoilers, but no, I don't think we find anything out."
Though you won't see Lucas and Julian together on-screen, Murray did work with Austin Nichols,
who directed the episode. "He was great, and I was really happy with
everything he did, and I think the episode's going to be excellent,"
Nichols says, noting that Murray's comfort with the crew helped things
run smoothly.
Murray has fond words for Nichols as well. In
fact, his sentiments toward all his former cast mates were rather warm
-- when he asked which hotel we stayed at while in Wilmington, he
immediately began reminiscing about the first season, when he and
co-star James Lafferty lived in the suites there.
"It was
fun. We were all just a bunch of goofy kids. James and I used to light
fireworks off the balcony -- stupid stuff. But it's nice to see that
everyone has grown up and they're on to new things. Austin's been
directing and he did such a great job with this episode. He fits in that
chair so well, he really does. And Jackson is just adorable. He hasn't
grown, but he's adorable. Joy's a mom and her baby's beautiful. It was
nice to be back."
Catch his return on Wednesday, Feb. 22 at 8 p.m. EST. In the meantime, stay tuned to Zap2it for more from Chad Michael Murray.
We don’t know what ya’ll do in your free time, but we’re
not ashamed to admit that replaying episodes of One Tree Hill is one of
our favorite pastimes. Go ahead. Judge. So you can imagine how excited we were when we found out original
castmember Chad Michael Murray was returning for the final season, and
even better, we got to sit down with to learn all the details about
Lucas Scott’s Tree Hill homecoming. Plus, we’ve got exclusive scoop from
Bethany Joy Galeotti about this season’s Naley drama and how she really
feels about Chad returning to the show…
“We get a little bit of an opportunity to see what we really loved in
the relationship between Haley and Luke,” Murray tells us with a smile.
“And it’s just kind of a little throwback and a little visit for our
fans and for our wonderful following.” He’s baa-ack! Former on-screen BFF Galeotti gushed: “It was wonderful having Chad
back! Chad and I hit it off right away from my first screen test and
we’ve been friends ever since and we’ve been through a lot of ups and
downs but you know, he’s dear to my heart. It was wonderful to have him
around.”
Chad Michael Murray tweeted some news this morning that’s
been hotly anticipated by “One Tree Hill” fans — the date his
character, Lucas, returns to the locally filmed drama series “One Tree
Hill.”
He tweeted: “The Lucas returns OTH ep airs Feb 22nd here in the
states. Not sure bout international date. It’s ep 7. Cheers all!”
So mark your calendars. The sensitive Tree Hill basketballer returns
Feb. 22. Fans will undoubtedly be disappointed that Peyton (Hilarie
Burton) isn’t joining him. But fans have been clamoring for his return
since Murray left the show after the season six finale.
Chad filmed a commercial for CÎROC Ultra Premium with Sean 'Diddy' Combs, Eva Pigford, Michael K. Williams, Aaron Paul, Dania Ramirez, and Jesse Williams. Here's the behind the scenes
If there was any doubt, consider this: Sure, he’s on the DVDs for several seasons of the TV drama One Tree Hill and movies such as House of Wax, but Murray doesn’t have a strategy for checking those out in his local Best Buy. However, he does have one for discovering where his pre-apocalyptic Archaia graphic novel Everlast is located in bookstores.
“It’s something you kind of have to do. You’ve got to move it around, you’ve got to give it more exposure. Flip over the other books and put that on top,” Murray says, laughing.
In bookstores now, Everlast arrives in comic shops with its complex characters and big themes on Wednesday. Murray is also out on his book tour currently, with stops at San Francisco’s Comix Experience on Sunday, Portland’s Cosmic Monkey Comics on Tuesday and Seattle’s Local Color on Wednesday.
Created by Murray, the world of Everlast revolves around Derek Everlast, a man who’s tasked by a higher power to escort chosen people to an underground place called Haven before the End of Days. Some people are on “the list” to rebuild mankind following the oncoming event, some people aren’t — and trying to get into Haven without an invitation doesn’t work out too well for folks.
We’ve seen actors branch out into all kinds of side careers, from rapping and banjoing to running an NFL franchise or a hamburger joint.
Chad Michael Murray – best known for making hearts throb on TV’s “One Tree Hill” and movies like “House of Wax” and “A Cinderella Story” – now adds “graphic novelist” to his resume’s job history with “Everlast,” a dark but spiritual tale about a hard-edged “soul-saver” in the days leading up to the apocalypse.
We geeked out with the amicable Buffalo, New York, native at October’s New York Comic-Con to cast the inevitable movie version.
So what inspired you to start writing graphic novels?
I can tell you that the story was inspired by a man who showed up on my doorstep, preaching about the end of the world, and he goes, “144,000 people are going to be let survive the End of Days. Do you want to be one of them?” And at that point I’m just like okay, I want to hear it. And it was really interesting. I heard this guy’s story and then I just kind of swallowed this idea and I went inside my house, and I just kind of contemplated it for a long time and thought, “What if it was true?”
Out of that I created Derek (Everlast), a soldier whose job it is to find people who are destined to survive the End of Days. And I just saw this as the greatest platform to launch it. It’s a really cool platform because you can do a little bit of everything with a little bit of ink. An incredible artist, obviously, can blow up your world for you, blow up a building instead of having to actually spend lots of production dollars, actually doing that, like some people.
Chad Michael Murray arrives to sign copies of his new book “Everlast” at Barnes & Noble bookstore at The Grove on December 1, 2011 in Los Angeles, California.
Chad Michael Murray is someone who has tackled the acting world pretty fiercely over the last 10 years. From starring on CW favorite One Tree Hill to landing leads in major films alongside actresses like Lindsay Lohan, Hilary Duff and Jamie Lee Curtis, Chad more or less has Hollywood firmly in his back pocket. So, like anyone would be, I was skeptical upon hearing that he had written a graphic novel — not a novel or memoir, mind you. It wouldn’t be much of a challenge for the 30-year-old seasoned actor to ghost-write a book like so many of his peers, trying to capitalize on their fame while they can. Chad chose a genre that is very much critical and protective of its own kind. A ballsy move. And he did it because he likes to write, which I can’t help but admire.
One of the many perks of my job is getting to meet and interview talented people and celebrities with whom in normal circumstances I’d never even breathe the same air. So when I heard that Chad was stopping in New York City for a signing, of course I had to be there. And walking into Barnes and Noble on the Upper East Side was like walking into a cooler, tamer version of a rock concert. The fans were just like any — passionate, kinda nuts and just wanted a glimpse at him — but more importantly, they were devoted and genuinely excited to crack open Everlast, his very first novel. “I though I’d show up here and we’d have 30 people outside. I really did,” Chad later tells me as I sit across from him and his gorgeous girlfriend Kenzie Dalton in a room no bigger than a utility closet.
Chad and Kenzie attended a red carpet event last night for Google and T-Mobile's launch of Google Music in LA. There's a lot of photos but I'm just going to link y'all to a few in HQ and a source to check out more later...
