Rachel Bilson and Melinda Clarke are “totally down” for a trip back to The O.C. While recently interviewing one another for Entertainment Tonight in promotion of their forthcoming podcast, Welcome to The OC!, the actresses spoke about reviving their fan-favorite television series. “I know we talked about definitely getting together personally, as a reunion … all of us getting together,” Bilson, 39, said. “I think we have spoken to some already, everyone’s on board for that. But a reboot would be awesome,” she continued. “I think that’s in the hands of [creators and executive producers] Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage. There’s still a ways to go, so maybe they’ll figure it out! That’d be fun.” Chiming in with her own thoughts, Clarke, 52, added: “Never say never!”
The two actresses starred in The O.C. for four seasons from 2003 to 2007. Bilson played Summer Roberts, while Clarke portrayed Julie Cooper, the mother of Mischa Barton’s character, Marissa Cooper. Also starring Adam Brody, Ben McKenzie, Kelly Rowan and Peter Gallagher, the show followed the lives of affluent families living in California’s Orange County after a troubled young man is brought into one of their homes.
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Welcome to the O.C.! — a nod to one of the teen drama’s most iconic lines — will feature “former cast members, writers, musicians, and many people that made The O.C. the cultural phenomenon that it is today” as Bilson and Clarke recap every episode of the show. “Grab your bikinis, your Juicy jumpsuits and your flip phones because every Tuesday, we’re going back to the early 2000s,” Bilson says in the podcast’s teaser.
“I’ve learned that I actually have zero memory and don’t remember most of the things that happened on this show. So I’m kind of going through this with everyone else, re-watching it, discovering it,” Bilson told ET. “I wouldn’t even say rediscovering it, [I’m] discovering it for the first time! It’s gonna be really fun just sharing all of the things that we went through and learning all of these things, maybe as some of you are when you watch it for the first time,” she added.