The cast of The O.C. is returning to where it all began. On August 5, 2003, Fox introduced viewers to Ryan Atwood, a “troubled teen” whose life is permanently transformed when public defender Sandy Cohen invites him into his wealthy Newport Beach, California, house and introduces him to Sandy’s son, Seth, and neighbor Marissa Cooper. To commemorate The O.C.’s 20th anniversary on Aug. 5, original cast members such as Ben McKenzie, who played Ryan, and Rachel Bilson, aka Summer Roberts, went back in time to the early 2000s.
On Aug. 5, McKenzie posted an Instagram photo of himself and co-star Adam Brody, who portrayed Seth Cohen. “The OC premiered 20 years ago today,” he joked, and I keep showing my kids pictures to prove how cool I used to be, but for some reason, they don’t seem to get it.” (He has three children with his wife, actress Morena Baccarin, who appeared on The O.C. in 2006.) Bilson added three red hearts in the comments area, while castmate Melinda Clarke (Marissa’s mother, Julie Cooper) argued he’s “still cool,” contributing a happy face with sunglasses emoji.
Meanwhile, Bilson and Clarke, co-hosts of the Welcome to the OC, Bitches! podcast, offered their own recollections of the program, which ran on Fox for four seasons. With the caption “Twenty,” Bilson uploaded a snapshot of a bikini-clad Summer delivering her signature remark, “Chino? Ew!” In her Instagram stories, she also promoted journalist Alan Sepinwall’s oral history book Welcome to The O.C., which is set to be released on November 28th, and she toasted series creator Josh Schwartz’s birthday with an “embarrassing” flashback shot from 20 years ago.
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Clarke, for her part, posted a photo of herself and Peter Gallagher (Sandy) with the caption, Wait, Whut?! “How old are we?” in addition to the hashtags “20 years today” and “forever young.” In a Bustle interview in April 2021, the actor referred to Julie as “one of the original Housewives,” noting, “She’s a villain, but you never play a villain as a villain.” You trust your character’s reality, and her truth was keeping up this lovely front. Both physically and financially. But, in the end, she is an outsider, and Josh has stated that this is the show’s main theme: everyone is an outsider. They were either one, or they became or felt like an outsider.”
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Olivia Wilde, who portrayed Alex Kelly on the sitcom, reminisced about it by posting an old photo of herself with Barton on her Instagram account, according to Metro. “Ok, I see it’s (The OC) having a moment because it premiered 20 years ago,” the director of Don’t Worry Darling said, adding, “Mischa = One of the most beautiful faces I’ve ever seen.” I remember simply going, whoooaaaaa.”
Though Barton did not mark the anniversary of the debut on social media, she has since commented on her character’s dramatic death in the Season 3 finale as well as her “complicated” time on set, which included her making charges of bullying.
“I was really sad I was leaving because that was like my family, but there had also been some things that weren’t so cool, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little relieved that I was going to get out of there,” she told E! in 2021. “But I also really like that she had this epic death and that it ended the way it did because it’s memorable and not just another flash in the pan.” People still come up to me and say, ‘I remember where I was when your character died!’ And they’re still emotional about it as if it actually happened to me. That people really took anything away from it is cool, in my opinion. For better or worse, there were lessons to be gained from Marissa.”