The stars of One Tree Hill took time out over the weekend to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the hit teen drama series’ premiere on The WB.
Hilarie Burton, Bethany Joy Lenz and Sophia Bush were among the cast members who attended the love fest, but they decided to pay tribute to the show without ever mentioning her by name.
The smart move came in line with the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes; Instead, the trio decided to celebrate the “female friendships” formed throughout the nine seasons.
For her post, Bush, now 41, chose her words carefully, writing that she “will not mention the job that turns 20 today while our union is on strike.”
She continued: “Instead, with @dramaqueensoth I will celebrate 20 years of female friendships as the ultimate love stories and the reclaiming of our good, bad, ugly and beautiful.” Thank you to our #Fanfam for encouraging us, our voices on and off screen to find and use. #Lucky23 #20years.’
Respectful tributes: The three female leads of One Tree Hill celebrated the 20th anniversary of the series’ premiere on Sunday by not mentioning them by name to honor the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes; Hilarie Burton, Bethany Joy Lenz and Sophia Bush are pictured with Chad Michael Murray and James Lafferty
Careful wording: Bush, now 41, chose her words carefully, writing that she “will not mention the job, which turns 20 today, during our union’s strike”; The cover photo shows a recent picture of former co-stars Bush, Burton and Lenz
Burton, 41, quickly responded to Bush’s anniversary tribute by giving him some love. write: “Hey. We made it. Love you.’
As for Lenz, she shared a carousel of images on her Instagram page with pictures from her time on the show as well as more recent times with her former co-stars.
“20 years of SOMETHING magical. This will always be my family.” “Thank you to everyone who made it possible,” she gushed in the caption.
One Tree Hill was created by Mark Schwahn and featured an ensemble cast including James Lafferty, Tyler Hilton, Stephen Colletti and Antwon Tanner, who appear together in one of the images.
There’s also a black-and-white shot of Lenz planting a kiss on Bush’s cheek as she bursts into laughter.
She can also be seen lovingly looking into the eyes of her then small daughter Maria, who ceremonially arrived on planet Earth in February 2011.
The final image, a more recent Boomerang, shows Lenz, Bush and Burton all looking spiffy as they lounge on the large couch.
One Tree Hill focused on the lives of half-brothers Lucas Scott (Chad Michael Murray) and Nathan Scott (Lafferty), following them and the other young adult characters as they forged their friendships and careers over a four-year period.
Blast from the Past: Bush also shared a look back at the main cast of One Tree Hill
A look back: Bush, Burton and Lenz take a walk down memory lane with One Tree Hill as co-hosts of the Drama Queens podcast, rewatching and talking about each of the old episodes
Murray, 42, took to his Instagram Story to reminisce about all the time that has passed since the show began.
“Happy 20th Fam #3,” he wrote on Saturday in a post that was accompanied by a clip of the One Tree Hill theme song, “I Don’t Want to Be” by Gavin DeGraw – with a caption that read: “From Downtown.”
“If you had asked me in 2003… Not even in my wildest dreams did I think we would still have this magical bond,” he continued, adding the fist bump emoji.
The actor ended the post by sharing how “grateful” he was for his time on the show and the friendships it created.
Bonafide Hit: The drama series ran for nine seasons, first from 2003 to 2006 on The WB and then from 2006 until its finale on The CW in 2012 following the merger of The WB and UPN
’20 years. ’03 – ’23. “These numbers look so familiar,” he said, adding a smiling face with sunglasses emoji.
The cast also included Paul Johansson, Barry Corbin, Craig Sheffer, Moira Kelly, Barbara Alyn Woods, Lee Norris, Danneel Harris, Jackson Brundage, Lisa Goldstein, Justin Nichols, Robert Buckley, Shantel VanSante and Jana Kramer.
The drama series ran for nine seasons, first from 2003 to 2006 on The WB and then from 2006 until its finale on The CW in 2012 following the merger of The WB and UPN.
Bush, Burton and Lenz take a walk down memory lane with the show as co-hosts of the Drama Queens podcast, which rewatches and talks about each of the old episodes.