Rachel Bilson reprises ‘The O.C.’ character Summer Roberts for tequila ad: I’m ‘always’ up for a reunion
California, here she comes.
Rachel Bilson, 42, reprised her role as “The O.C.’s” Summer Roberts in a new tequila ad.
The ad – which also reunited her with the show’s creators Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, as they created it through their production company Fake Empire – features the iconic theme song “California.”
Bilson told Variety in an interview published Wednesday that she got involved because, “Josh told me about it. I have to start by saying anything that Josh and Stephanie do, I’m always like, ‘Yeah.’ They say, ‘Jump.’ I say, ‘How high?’… When they said we’re going to bring Summer back and they were writing it, of course I’m going to do it because how fun does that sound? Tequila and Summer, come on! She’s obviously drinking her tequila because no Orange County housewife can survive without it.”
When the outlet asked Bilson if summer is a “Real Housewife of Orange County,” the actress said, “I feel like she should be.”
“The O.C.” aired on Fox from 2003 to 2007. Starring Bilson, her then-boyfriend Adam Brody, Ben McKenzie and Mischa Barton – whose character, Marissa, was controversially killed off – the show followed teens in a beach community.
In the tequila ad, after introducing the drink, Bilson opens a door to reveal someone who resembles Ryan (McKenzie), although McKenzie doesn’t feature in the ad.
When Bilson asks who he is, the man responds with Ryan’s line from the pilot:
“Whoever you want me to be,” as he delivers tequila.
There’s also a woman who resembles Marissa (Barton) throwing a lawn chair into a pool, and Summer says her frequent phrase, “ew!”
“I’m just going to say this for the fans — she’s definitely still married to Seth. They have kids. Let’s paint that picture,” Bilson told the outlet.
“She’s living her best life. Summer, I feel like she really bloomed over the four years of the show and she just continued that way.”
In the 2023 book, “Welcome to the OC: The Oral History,” Schwartz admits that he regrets killing off Marissa.
Casting director Patrick Rush also confessed that Brody’s first audition was “obnoxious” and “disrespectful” of the material, and Schwartz also commented that his audition “sucked.”
Bilson told Variety that she’d be open to a reunion.
“I would always be up for it. But it’s also this thing that people still watch and are still discovering. So do you just leave that special moment as it is? You weigh both sides because obviously it would be fun and I love everybody and it would be awesome to go back and we need to somehow bring Marissa back to life and do the whole thing if we do it,” she said.
“But also leaving it for what it was and how special it kind of was, is also a positive.”
