Chad Michael Murray Reveals One Tree Hill Scene He “Begged” Not to Do

Chad Michael Murray didn’t want anything other than not being in this scene.

The former One Tree Hill star recently discussed the memorable storyline where his character, Lucas Scott’s, father and the show’s villain, Dan Scott (played by Paul Johansson), was supposed to get a heart transplant. The plot twist? A dog ate the donor heart right before the surgery!

Chad recalled desperately trying to convince the show’s creators not to include his character in a particular scene. ‘Please, I don’t need to be there. Lucas Scott doesn’t need to be there either,’ he told People magazine in an interview with James Lafferty on November 6th. ‘If you’re set on it, go ahead and write it, but it’s a bad idea,’ he added.

The storyline revolved around Dan preparing for a heart transplant. Just as the new heart arrived at the hospital, a surprising incident occurred: an EMT tripped over a dog’s leash, causing the dog to snatch the heart after it fell to the floor.

By the sixth season, Chad had become more comfortable voicing his opinions, so the scene gave him pause.

He said he became much more invested and proactive around the age of 25. He explained that he was older and taking more responsibility for his work, and when he read the script, he immediately understood the creators’ intentions.

Let me tell you, as someone who follows pop culture closely, the story behind that whole situation is just… unbelievable. When I heard the details, I was honestly shocked by how absurd everything unfolded. It’s one of those things you have to hear to believe, and even then, it’s hard to wrap your head around!

He joked that anything could happen, and then gave a bizarre example: if you baked pot brownies, fell asleep, and your dog ate the whole batch, your first instinct would be to rush him to the emergency room.

The dog’s owners had eaten something sweet and then fallen asleep, so they were understandably tired, he said. As for his dog, its long, 25-foot leash ended up winding all around the emergency room.

The former Gilmore Girls star also mentioned the box containing the heart wasn’t locked, even though it was a valuable item. Dan, who wasn’t in a surgical setting, saw the whole thing go wrong.

Let me tell you, being right in the middle of it all was…intense. I saw everything go down, just like Dan Scott did. And honestly, it was horrifying – it looked like someone’s heart was actually eaten by this…well, let’s just say a very hungry dog who was clearly enjoying a serious case of the munchies. It was a truly unbelievable sight.

Reflecting on the moment, he simply added, “The scene went down in infamy.”

Chad wasn’t convinced the storyline was a success, but the show’s creator, Mark Schwahn, had previously spoken in its defense.

In a 2017 interview with The Ringer, he explained they didn’t want Dan’s character arc to be simple. They avoided a typical solution like a heart transplant, wanting instead to push him to the brink of hope and see how he’d react. He was looking for a surprising and unusual way to put Dan in a position where he almost received a life-saving transplant, but ultimately didn’t.

And Chad’s thoughts were clear during filming, too, according to the episode’s director Joe Davola.

I recall Chad being completely lost and asking what to do. I asked him what he thought after reading it, and he was shocked and couldn’t believe it was happening. I told him that was the perfect way to respond, and that’s exactly the reaction I got from him.

For more fascinating facts about One Tree Hill, keep reading.

The show began as a movie script called Ravens written by Mark Schwahn. It took four years of convincing before Warner Bros. TV agreed to develop it into a television series. The show’s title didn’t come from sports, but from the U2 song “One Tree Hill” on their Joshua Tree album. In fact, each episode was named after a different song, featuring artists like Dashboard Confessional and R.E.M.

Chad Michael Murray originally auditioned for the role of Ryan on The O.C., but turned it down to play Lucas. Producers first thought of him as Nathan, considering his previous roles as a troublemaker on Gilmore Girls and Dawson’s Creek. However, Murray connected with Lucas’s character – partly because he experienced his mother leaving his family at a young age – and successfully campaigned for the part.

Bethany Joy Lenz originally tried out for both the roles of Haley and Brooke, but she preferred Haley. She even approached reading the script for Brooke the same way she did for Haley. Lenz was the last main cast member to be chosen, and she changed her appearance – dyeing her blonde hair dark and straightening her naturally curly hair – to make sure she looked different from Hilarie Burton, who played Peyton.

James Lafferty, who was 17 at the time, was much more comfortable on the basketball court than in front of a camera. He knew getting the role of Nathan would be a challenge. In a behind-the-scenes look, Lafferty shared that he wasn’t originally considered for the part and had to audition six times to win it.

He was right about that. As executive producer Joe Davola pointed out, James wasn’t initially considered a frontrunner for the role.

Okay, so Sophia Bush wasn’t in the very first episode, which was a tragedy, honestly! But then, oh my gosh, she showed up as Brooke in the second episode and was basically a constant presence after that! It was amazing! And get this – she didn’t just act! She actually directed three episodes herself! She’s just… incredible, seriously.

Sophia Bush and Chad Michael Murray became engaged in 2004, less than a year after meeting on the set of One Tree Hill, and married soon after. However, five months later, Bush filed for an annulment, alleging fraud, though the request was denied and the couple ultimately divorced.

Bush has spoken about the difficult experience of continuing to work with Murray on the show, describing the producers as “deeply inappropriate” and exploitative. She explained on Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast that the show even used their personal breakup as a publicity stunt, running ads about it. She added that the producers frequently used actors’ private lives as inspiration for storylines, which she felt was unacceptable.

Despite the painful past, Bush has no desire to speak negatively about Murray. In an interview on Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum, she explained that she tries to make light of her younger self but doesn’t want her comments twisted into criticism of someone she no longer knows. She prefers to focus on her own growth and doesn’t want to revisit old history involving others. Ultimately, she views herself as a naive 21-year-old at the time and has moved on.

Murray expressed similar feelings, recalling his naiveté at the time. He told The Cut in May 2024, “I was so young and clueless. Moving out on my own, I thought, ‘Now what? Is getting married the next step?’ It felt overwhelming but also exciting!”

After dating another man in 2008, Bush began a relationship with Austin Nichols, who played her on-screen husband Julian on One Tree Hill. They broke up in 2012, coinciding with the show’s finale.

One romance blossomed on the set of the show: Lisa Goldstein, who played Millie in the later seasons, married Brendan Kirsch, the basketball coordinator, in 2011.

On her podcast, Drama Queens, which she hosts with Hilarie Burton and Sophia Bush, Burton shared that her husband, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, nearly appeared on One Tree Hill with her.

She recalled that when she first met Jeff, he mentioned auditioning for the show. He’d tried out for the role of Keith, who became a father figure to Lucas, but Craig Sheffer ultimately got the part. She remembered being surprised when he told her, saying she responded with, ‘Wait, what?’

Burton and Morgan actually met through Danneel Ackles, a co-star of Morgan’s. Her husband, Jensen Ackles, had become good friends with Morgan after they worked together on Supernatural, where Morgan played his father.

In November 2017, a surprising open letter revealed that 18 people who worked on the show accused director James Schwahn of sexual harassment, suggesting a troubling environment on set.

I was absolutely heartbroken reading Diane Keaton’s memoir, The Rural Diaries. She bravely shared a story about a director who, in her words, created a really toxic environment on set. She described how he actively turned actresses against each other and pressured us into doing sex scenes that felt exploitative and left me feeling awful. It was deeply disturbing to read about the way he objectified young women, constantly telling us to exaggerate our bodies, and how he physically touched everyone, including forcing unwanted advances and kisses on me. It was a truly painful account of abuse of power.

In June 2021, Sophia Bush discussed her experiences on the Chicks in the Office podcast, alleging that she and unnamed colleagues from One Tree Hill were subjected to control and manipulation by adults while working on the show.

Bush claims that adults they trusted were actually controlling and manipulative, and actively discouraged their closeness because they feared the children would unite and demand more financial support. She says they didn’t realize this was happening at the time. Schwahn has not responded to these claims publicly.

After six seasons on the show, Murray and Burton left in 2009. However, Burton explained in her autobiography that she had actually been planning to leave for quite some time.

She wrote that after the death of her close friend, Scott Kirkpatrick, in Iraq in the summer of 2007, her life changed significantly. His death helped her refocus and re-evaluate what was truly important to her.

She described feeling lost for years, but longing for something more fulfilling. She dreamed of a family and a home – a safe haven where she could explore her creativity, embrace challenges, and learn from her mistakes. She wanted to live with purpose, making conscious choices in every aspect of her life – from waking up to working, eating, and even resting. Driven by this desire, she decided to make a change, leaving her job to write a novel and embarking on a one-way journey to Paris.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Schwahn initially told fans in Paris that the actors left because of a disagreement over their contracts. He expressed hope they would return, saying, “I know they’ve been offered great opportunities, and hopefully they’ll decide to come back.” He also acknowledged that the show had overcome challenges before and could likely survive their departure.

Murray announced to fans in a video that he wouldn’t be returning the following season, explaining the show was cutting costs and jokingly advising viewers to start blogging about their frustration. Although Burton didn’t come back, Murray did make a guest appearance in the show’s last season.

In a surprising decision, the TV show One Tree Hill skipped over the characters’ college years in season six, instead jumping ahead in time to show them as adults.

As a lifestyle expert, I’ve seen a lot of shows try to follow their characters from high school into adulthood, and honestly, it rarely works. Back in 2015, I told TopMob News that those transitions often feel forced and a little clunky. It’s tough to make that jump feel natural, and audiences can really sense when it doesn’t quite land.

Country singer Jana Kramer, who appeared on the final three seasons of One Tree Hill, shared on her podcast, Whine Down, that an unnamed cast member created a difficult and unpleasant atmosphere on set. She claimed this person didn’t allow her to be friends with Stephen Lafferty.

She explained in a 2021 interview that the show created a strange dynamic where cast members were discouraged from being friends with each other. Because of this, she wasn’t particularly close to James during filming due to some on-set issues.

I was absolutely shocked when I found out about Antwon Tanner, you know, Skills from One on One! Apparently, back in 2009, he got caught in a sting operation trying to sell fake Social Security numbers and cards – sixteen of them, plus three fake cards! It was all across state lines, a real scam. He ended up pleading guilty and got three months in prison in 2010. I still can’t believe Skills, of all people, was involved in something like that. It’s just… weird, you know?

In her 2024 memoir, Dinner For Vampires, Bethany Joy Lenz discussed her experiences on the TV show One Tree Hill while also being involved in a cult. She explained that at first, she struggled to connect with her character, Sophia. Lenz wrote that Sophia, often underestimated because of her looks, constantly felt the need to prove herself – a trait that fit the role of Brooke Davis perfectly. However, this clashed with Lenz’s own insecurities and her strong beliefs about how to earn self-worth. She realized later that she was doing the same thing as Sophia, but using religion as her standard for proving her value.

However, she regrets this judgment.

Lenz explained that a developing friendship with Sophia was unfortunately lost because of the situation. He said he didn’t dwell on his own hurt feelings, but instead deeply wished he could have gone back to simply offer her a comforting hug.

Later, they did become friends, and Bush has often spoken about the strong connection she shares with both Lenz and Burton.

She described their friendship to People magazine as a deep, almost instinctive bond. They’ve always been there for each other, sharing both the joys and difficulties of life, and offering fierce protection and support. She said it’s a relationship built on shared experiences, laughter, and tears, and that it exemplifies what true sisterhood means to her.

In 2024, rumors began circulating about a possible rift between Bethany Joy Lenz and Hilarie Burton. Fans noticed they had unfollowed each other on Instagram, and Burton shared a post suggesting she was bothered by someone copying her work, which some interpreted as a reference to their respective memoirs. Later that year, Burton announced Robert Buckley would be taking her place as co-host of the Drama Queens podcast, which she shared with Lenz and Sophia Bush.

In October, Lenz publicly addressed the speculation, stating on the Call Her Daddy podcast, “I love Hilarie, I have always and will always,” and adding that she hoped they could resolve a strange misunderstanding, but that she held no ill will towards her.

2025-11-10 18:18

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