25-05-2025
Barbara Alyn Woods Turned Down Another Role to Take a Chance on 'One Tree Hill'
Barbara Alyn Woods revealed she was only supposed to be on 'One Tree Hill' for three episodes
She declined an offer to be on another show to take a chance on the teen drama
Woods ended up starring on 'OTH' for the majority of the show's nine-season runBarbara Alyn Woods originally wasn't supposed to be on One Tree Hill for more than three episodes.
Woods, 63, revealed her character, Deb Scott, wasn't meant for the long haul during an appearance on the Drama Queens podcast, hosted by former costars Bethany Joy Lenz and Robert Buckley.
"What was the sort of initial concept of Deb? How big of a role were you supposed to have, and what did it look like?" Buckley asked.
"Deb was a three-episode arc," Woods confessed to the shock of both Buckley and Lenz.
Despite being slated for just a short stint on the show, Woods said she took a big leap of faith, hoping showrunners might change their mind.
"I was on another show at the same time, not a regular, but a recurring role in L.A.," Woods recalled. "I knew that One Tree Hill wanted me for three episodes. I was in love with this character. I was in love with the show, the writing."
"I don't think I saw into the future that I would be there further than three episodes, but I really wanted those three episodes," she added. "I had to choose between the two shows. And the other show would have possibly taken me further as well. I had to choose, and I chose One Tree Hill, knowing that it was only three episodes."
While Woods didn't name the other show she was debating, she was notably working on Providence and American Dreams around the same time.
Her gut instincts were right, and, of course, fans of the teen drama know that she stayed on for far more than just three episodes.
"They extended, and I never went home," she recalled. "So after three episodes, they said, 'Well, they wanna keep you here.' So I didn't even pack for it. I never even went home."
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Woods ended up playing the mother of James Lafferty's character, Nathan Scott, for the majority of the show's run.
Woods, Lenz and Buckley joked that the direction of her character changed from "boring" to a "cautionary tale" as the series went on. However, Woods said "it was so much fun" playing a character that went off the rails a bit.
"My theory is that the writers on One Tree Hill really wrote for us as they got to know us," Woods said. "Maybe wrote to our strengths, maybe added some comedy or not, and maybe tried to press some buttons, some emotional buttons where we didn't want them pressed."
One Tree Hill ran for nine seasons, from 2003 to 2012. It can be streamed in full on Hulu and Max.
Read the original article on People
