'One Tree Hill' Series Finale: What Would've Been Deleted, Why Bevin Returned, the Flash Forward
One Tree Hill's series finale may have aired earlier this month on April 4, but that doesn't mean there weren't some questions left after it aired.
One Tree Hill Series Finale Scoop
So what would've been cut if the CW had asked them to do so? Why did one character return? Who would they have liked to see back? What's in the water in Tree Hill that no one aged even though the kids grew up in the final scene? Those are just the questions that TVLine presented to Mark Schwahn and James Lafferty.
Schwahn revealed that if they had been told to cut anything, the two parts that would've ended up out of the series finale were Gavin DeGraw performing "I Don't Want to Be" with the cast singing along and "all of the twintern stuff with Chase and Chris Keller." While it wouldn't have really take anything away from the episode if the twintern stuff wasn't in it—except for the fact that the Chase and Chris scenes were pretty good all season—it's hard to imagine the finale without the cast singing along to "I Don't Want to Be" as the episode neared its end. It seemed like such a perfect moment for the show, and fortunately the CW let them air the One Tree Hill series finale as it was meant to be seen.
Another question posed was why Bevin was the one chosen to return to be the one who was working when Clay, Quinn, and Logan showed up to sign the custody papers. According to Schwahn, they "were...trying to maximize our opportunities to see old faces, so I thought that [Bevin] would be perfect there." It was a nice callback to the past to show Bevin working there—and it was also a way to remind fans that technically Bevin would've known Quinn since she's Haley's sister and just because she didn't show up until season 7 didn't mean she wasn't part of her sister's life. Schwahn added, "Then there was the Skills payoff at the very end, so it just flowed." Back in high school, Bevin and Skills dated, and they were a pretty cute couple. What better way to wrap up the show than to show them back together again in the Ravens' gym?
Schwahn did say he wished that they could've had a return from Peyton: "That character was so significant. I loved [her] so much, and I think a lot of fans loved that character. So, it was a little odd not to see Peyton." It was all a matter of "circumstances," and Schwahn "would have [brought her back], creatively." Peyton was mentioned, even though she wasn't seen, both in "Last Known Surroundings" when Chad Michael Murray returned as Lucas to pick up Jamie and Lydia while Nathan was missing, and then by Jamie when he returned in "Danny Boy" once Nathan had been rescued and Dan was dying. While it would've been nice to see Hilarie Burton on the series again, the show did address what was going on with her and let it be known that Lucas and Peyton were still together.
Finally, Lafferty joked about the fact that the adults didn't age in that final scene, showing them sitting in the stands as the Ravens, with Jamie on the team, ran out onto the court: "We all had been taking really good care of ourselves at the exact moment and using the same anti-aging face cream. Contrary to popular opinion, our kids growing up actually made us look younger. It's kind of an anomaly." That fact aside (and really, for all the time jumps and showing these characters mature, it looks like having the kids head to their teenage years was good for all their skin and kept the years from showing), it was the perfect ending to see these characters who used to be on the basketball court, giving the commentary of the game, and cheering on the sidelines take their places in the stands as Jamie ran out (wearing #12 of course) and those final words were heard.
Do you miss OTH now that it's over? What did you think of the One Tree Hill series finale?
