Sophia Bush Recalls Learning 'Years Later' That Chad Michael Murray Almost Played Nathan on “One Tree Hill”

Bush said that Murray pushed back on the casting because he felt like he would "always play the bad guy"

One Tree Hill was almost an entirely different show.

On the Aug. 19 episode of the Drama Queens podcast, Sophia Bush revealed that at the earliest stages of the hit WB/CW series, the network had wanted Chad Michael Murray, who ended up starring as Lucas Scott, to play the protagonist's Nathan Scott — a part that James Lafferty ended up taking on.

Bush, 42, shared the little-known tidbit after her guest Jana Kramer revealed that she'd auditioned to play Quinn James, who was eventually played by Shantel VanSanten, instead of Alex Dupré, the role she ended up getting.

Related: Chad Michael Murray 'Can't See a World' Without a One Tree Hill Reboot

"Do you know that when the show first started – and I didn't even know this until years later because Brooke's not in the pilot... I learned that originally, the WB had tried to cast Chad as Nathan. And he was like, 'No. I always play the bad guy. I wanna play the good guy.'"

Murray's logic stemmed from his previous experience playing a "really terrible person" on Dawson's Creek, Bush noted. "But so Chad was almost Nathan and you were almost Quinn!"

Kramer, 40, then revealed that she "personally never watched One Tree Hill" and that when she joined in season 7, she wasn't even aware of one of the show's main characters.

"I didn't even know Nathan. And, I didn't know they were brothers until, like, way later," the country singer told Bush. "I really just didn't do my research before going on the show."

She did, however, know of Bush, who played Brooke Davis, before joining the series. "I knew you," she told the Drama Queens co-host. "And I was so nervous. I remember working with you. I was like, 'Oh my gosh, she's Sophia Bush.'"

Related: Sophia Bush Has Fallen 'in Love For the First Time' with One Tree Hill amid Rewatch Podcast

Murray, 42, has mentioned previously that he was originally slated to star as Nathan in One Tree Hill, which ran from 2003 to 2012 for nine seasons. However, the Cinderella Story actor and Hilarie Burton, who played his eventual wife, Peyton Sawyer, departed after season 6.

At Liverpool Comic-Con in 2022, he recalled wanting to "do something different," which led him to try his hand at playing the nicer of the two Scott brothers.

"Originally, they had asked me to play Nathan because I had played Tristan Dugray [on Gilmore Girls] who was a bad boy and then I went and played Charlie Todd on Dawson's, who was also the bad boy. And so here comes Nathan and he's supposed to be the bad guy," Murray said, noting that instead, "Lucas was the choice for me."

"And so it was a moment where I think I made a career decision and I put my foot down and I just said, 'Guys I really wanna play Lucas. This is the character.' And I was blessed enough that Warner Brothers and everybody there... took care of me and said, 'You know what, alright, [we're] gonna give you a shot.'"

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One Tree Hill is now streaming on Max and Hulu.

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