Chad Michael Murray openly expressed his reluctance to participate in a particular Chad Michael Murray scene on the hit series One Tree Hill. The actor, known for portraying Lucas Scott, revealed his dissatisfaction with a storyline from season six where his character’s father, Dan Scott—played by Paul Johansson—was set to undergo a heart transplant that ended in unexpected chaos when a dog ate the donor heart.
Chad Michael Murray’s Objections to the Controversial Heart Transplant Plot
Murray recounted trying to avoid being part of the scene featuring the heart transplant. In a joint interview with James Lafferty published on November 6, he said,
“I remember I begged and pleaded, begged and pleaded, ‘Please, I don’t need to be there. There is no need for Lucas Scott to be there,’”
adding,
“If you really want to do it, fine. Go ahead and write the scene, but it’s terrible.”
The episode, the 18th of the sixth season, depicted Dan Scott awaiting surgery when an EMT carrying the new heart trips over a golden retriever’s leash. The dog then gallops off with the organ, which was left unsecured in a box, sparking disbelief in the storyline.
Murray, who was more assertive about his role by the sixth season, recognized how absurd the scenario was. Reflecting on his growth, he said,
“I remember I started to care a lot more and I started to really get more involved,”
continuing,
“I was older and starting to try and take ownership of my things. Instead of 20 or 21, I was probably 25. I saw it, read the script and I knew exactly what they were doing.”
He humorously described the unrealistic nature of the sequence:
“All things are very possible, I guess, in the spectrum of things,”
he said. He described a hypothetical where,
“if you were at home and you were making pot brownies—as one does—and you fell asleep and your dog happened to get into said pot brownies and ingest the entire tin, the first thing you’re going to do is take him to the ER.”
Explaining the chaos, Chad continued,
“Next, we’re going to obviously get exhausted ’cause we ate some point brownies and fell asleep,”
and added,
“Meanwhile, my dog’s leash—it’s one of those 25-foot leashes. It goes and wraps around the whole ER.”
Aspects such as the unlocked container carrying the heart and Dan Scott’s unprepared presence outside an operating room amplified the scene’s implausibility.
Murray noted,
“Of course, I happen to be there,”
describing how Lucas witnessed the incident firsthand along with Dan Scott, who presumably recognized the heart lost to the dog.
“He knows that that’s probably his heart that just got eaten by the stoned dog who had the munchies.”
Murray ultimately marked the moment as unforgettable:
“The scene went down in infamy.”
Creator Mark Schwahn’s Defense of the Bizarre Scene
Despite Chad Michael Murray’s objections, series creator Mark Schwahn defended the storyline. In a 2017 oral history with The Ringer, Schwahn explained his intention to make Dan Scott’s redemption storyline more complicated. He said,
“I just felt like, we don’t want Dan’s redemption to be too easy,”
continuing,
“We don’t want him to get a heart transplant and have it be too conventional. We want to take him to the edge of hope and then see what he’s made of.”
Schwahn described the dog-eats-heart plot as,
“an absurd way of this guy getting really close to getting this heart transplant and not getting it.”
On-Set Reactions to the Infamous Scene
Episode director Joe Davola recalled Chad Michael Murray’s disbelief during filming:
“I remember Chad that day going, ‘What do I do?’”
Davola said he told Murray,
“’You read it, what did you think?’ He goes, ‘I can’t f–king believe this is happening.’ And I said, ‘That’s exactly how you have to react.’ And that’s the reaction I got out of him.”
Fascinating Insights Behind One Tree Hill’s Creation and Cast Dynamics
The project’s journey began with creator Mark Schwahn initially writing it as a movie titled Ravens. It took four years before Warner Bros. TV executives persuaded him to adapt it into a series. The show’s title was ultimately inspired by U2’s song “One Tree Hill” from their Joshua Tree album, as Schwahn felt the original title sounded too sports-centric. Every episode title was named after songs by different artists, such as Dashboard Confessional and R.E.M.
Chad Michael Murray originally auditioned for the role of Ryan on The O.C. but chose to star as Lucas Scott instead. Although producers initially saw him as Nathan, due to his performances on Gilmore Girls and Dawson’s Creek, Murray identified more with Lucas, allowing for his casting in that role. His connection stemmed from Lucas’s troubled family background, mirroring Murray’s own experience with his mother leaving early in his life.
Bethany Joy Lenz auditioned for both Haley and Brooke but preferred Haley, which became her final role. To distinguish herself from Hilarie Burton, who played Peyton, Lenz dyed her hair dark and straightened her curls. James Lafferty, who played Nathan, had more basketball experience than acting background and had to audition six times before securing the role. Executive producer Joe Davola recalled,
“When James went into casting he was a dark horse to get the job.”
Sophia Bush debuted as Brooke in the show’s second episode and became a regular cast member, eventually directing three episodes. Murray and Bush began dating after meeting on set, becoming engaged in 2004 and marrying within a year. However, their marriage ended in annulment filing five months later, which was denied, leading to their divorce. Bush described the difficult professional atmosphere post-breakup, stating,
“There was no space to self-reflect,”
and criticized the producers for their handling of personal issues on set:
“They ran TV ads about it, it was really ugly,”
—Sophia Bush, Actress
“They made practice of taking advantage of people’s personal lives, and not just for me and for my ex, for other actors on the show who would share as you do when you get close to people. Deeply personal things that were happening in their lives and they would wind up in storylines. It wasn’t OK.”
—Sophia Bush, Actress
Despite the tension, Bush refused to publicly malign Murray, explaining,
“I’ve tried to poke fun at being a dumb kid. And whenever I’ve done that, it gets twisted into I’m talking s–t about somebody who I don’t even know anymore, who’s clearly a grown-up.”
She added,
“I think you have to laugh at who you used to be. But when people ask me about history that involves someone else…it’s not worth my time. It’s not a place where I harbor ill will or anything.”
Bush concluded,
“I was a very naive 21-year-old kid and that’s all there is to it.”
Murray has expressed similar reflections, saying,
“I was a baby. I didn’t know up, down, left, right,”
and humorously remarked about his early impulse to marry:
“You move out there and you go, ‘Well, what am I supposed to do now? Get married? That’s exciting!’”
Later, Bush dated James Lafferty in 2008, and subsequently was involved with Austin Nichols, who played Julian on One Tree Hill. That relationship ended in 2012, the same year the series finale aired. An on-set romance that succeeded was Lisa Goldstein, who played Millie and married Brendan Kirsch, the basketball coordinator, in 2011.
A notable near-casting detail involves Hilarie Burton’s husband Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who auditioned for a role on One Tree Hill but did not get the part. Burton recounted,
“You know when I met Jeff, he was like, ‘Oh I auditioned for that show,’”
explaining he read for the role of Keith, which eventually went to Craig Sheffer. The couple met through their mutual friends including Danneel Ackles and Jensen Ackles, linking to Morgan through his role on Supernatural.
Allegations of a Toxic Work Environment on One Tree Hill
In November 2017, a public letter surfaced, signing off with accusations of sexual harassment against Schwahn by 18 cast and crew members, exposing a dark atmosphere on set. Burton’s 2020 memoir The Rural Diaries gave insights into these experiences:
“In my particular fairy tale there had been a villain who pitted female actors against one another, pushed us to do gratuitous sex scenes that always left me feeling ill and ashamed, told young female actors to stick their chests out, put his hands on all of us, and pushed himself on me, forcing unwanted kisses.”
—Hilarie Burton, Actress and Author
Additionally, Sophia Bush spoke openly in June 2021 about being manipulated and controlled by adults on set whom the younger cast trusted. She said,
“We had grown-ups who we trusted, who now we understand were being really controlling and manipulative—who didn’t want us to be close ’cause they thought we would band together and ask for more money,”
adding,
“It’s just so weird and those were just things we were not aware of at the time.”
Schwahn has not publicly responded to these claims.
Cast Departures and Evolving Priorities
After six seasons, Murray and Burton left the show in 2009. Burton revealed in her memoir that the death of her close friend Scott Kirkpatrick in Iraq profoundly shifted her priorities. She wrote,
“I had spent the previous few years wandering, never really finding my place, but I wanted more,”
listing her desires for a home, family, and intentional living. This realization prompted her to quit acting on the show, start writing a novel, and travel to Paris.
The official reason for their departures was publicly attributed to contract disputes. Schwahn addressed fans in Paris, expressing hope for their returns, saying,
“I know they’ve been offered great things, and hopefully they’ll decide to come back,”
but added that the show had endured risky changes before. Murray later told viewers in a video,
“They’re not bringing me back next year…because they want to save money. Start blogging and being pissed off.”
Whereas Burton never returned, Murray made a guest appearance in the final season.
Creative Choices and Time Jumps in Later Seasons
The show took a notable creative turn in season six by skipping the college years and advancing the timeline to portray the characters as adults. James Lafferty commented on this approach in 2015, noting,
“When you look back and see similar shows to ours try to make that jump from high school into the next chapter of these characters’ lives,”
describing such transitions as,
“awkward and clunky and it doesn’t work that well.”
Behind-the-Scenes Rivalries and On-Set Challenges
Country singer and cast member Jana Kramer revealed in 2021 that one unnamed co-star created a difficult environment, prohibiting friendships. She explained,
“When I was on the show…there was just some, not cattiness, but just, ‘You can’t talk to this person if you’re friends with this person,’”
and added,
“So I wasn’t very close to James because of certain situations on the set at the time.”
Legal troubles also touched the series. In 2010, actor Antwon Tanner, who portrayed Antwon “Skills” Taylor, was sentenced to three months in prison after pleading guilty to involvement in a scam selling stolen Social Security Numbers. Tanner was caught in a 2009 sting operation attempting to sell multiple counterfeit IDs and Social Security numbers.
Complex Relationships and Friendships Among the Cast
Bethany Joy Lenz, in her 2024 memoir Dinner For Vampires, shared reflections about her evolving relationship with Sophia Bush. She admitted early on she,
“wasn’t equipped to get too close to Sophia,”
Due to differing approaches:
“Frequently favored and constantly underestimated in life because of her beauty, Sophia worked obsessively at proving her value—a character trait that made her perfect to play Brooke Davis but clashed with my own insecurities and militant beliefs about how one should go about proving their value,”
Lenz wrote. She acknowledged missing the irony in her judgment:
“I missed the irony that I was doing exactly the same thing, only I was using religion as my benchmark.”
She expressed regret over the lost budding friendship, stating,
“My budding friendship with sweet Sophia became a casualty of this,”
and added,
“instead of sitting shiva for my ego, I really f–king wish I could turn back time, walk into her trailer, and give her a long, hard hug.”
Later, Lenz, Bush, and Burton developed a close bond. Bush described their relationship to People magazine, saying,
“Our friendship and all of the things that it was influenced by that we didn’t know about when we were young and the ways that we’ve always returned to each other to unpack the good, the bad, the ugly and the very best of our lives as friends, we have that feral, primal, familial love for each other where we’ve been to hell and back and had so many times where we’d laughed so hard we’ve wound up in tears and we’re so ferociously protective of each other,”
and concluded,
“In my adult life, I go, ‘This is what real sisterhood is.’”
Recent Speculations About Cast Relations and Public Clarifications
In 2024, fans speculated about a rift between Bethany Joy Lenz and Hilarie Burton after observers noticed the two were no longer following each other on Instagram. Further stirring rumors, Burton reposted a quote:
“I don’t think imitation is the highest form of flattery. I think it’s just annoying,”
prompting speculation it related to the covers of both actresses’ memoirs. Later that year, Burton announced Robert Buckley would replace her as co-host of the podcast Drama Queens, which she co-hosted with Lenz and Bush.
Addressing the rumors on Call Her Daddy, Lenz stated,
“I love Hilarie, I have always and will always,”
denying any ongoing issues, and expressed hope the “bizarre misunderstanding” between them could be resolved. She affirmed,
“I love that girl.”
— Hilarie Burton Morgan (@HilarieBurton) February 29, 2024
