Chad Michael Murray on Taking On ‘One Tree Hill’ When He Was ‘So Young’

Before being cast as Lucas Scott on “One Tree Hill,” Chad Michael Murray had mainly played minor roles, such as in “Gilmore Girls” and “Dawson’s Creek.” But as part of the main cast, a lot more was expected from Murray, such as making appearances to promote the show.

“It was terrifying,” he admitted. “I was like, ‘Welcome to Hollywood, kid. Go do this.'”

“I remember our first time doing Planet Hollywood, and doing “TRL,” and doing these things, and seeing what this show was becoming,” he said. “I mean, it still blows my mind to this day.”

Frank Micelotta/Getty Images

While reminiscing about his previous work, the Hallmark star noted how much it impacted his life. “This is where I spent the majority of my twenties,” he revealed to “People.”

Growing Up Together: A ‘One Tree Hill’ Family

For Murray, “One Tree Hill” was so much more than a job, and the cast quickly became more than costars.

“You know, I think that one of the things that was special about the show is that you’re moving to Wilmington, North Carolina, right? You’re not in Los Angeles, you’re not home,” he told “People.” “And so, you have to make it your home. Who are the people that you’re seeing every day? It’s your cast. So your cast becomes your family. You’re with them all the time, 24/7. You’re planning dinner, and you’re going to go out on the weekends together, and you’re doing all your press tours together. So you really are doing all of this together as a team.”

Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images

Looking back, he realized that he, Hilarie Burton, Sophie Bush, Bethany Joy Lenz, and James Lafferty grew up together.

“You just kind of look at each other and you go, ‘Man, we were just, you know, kids when we started,'” he realized. “And now I look back and obviously I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, we’re still kids back then,’ which blows my mind. But you know each other so well, so every scene you could just click [snaps his fingers] right in.”

Murray Thought “One Tree Hill” Would Thrive from Day One

“One Tree Hill” is still what he’s most recognized for, two decades later, but Murray isn’t surprised. From the very beginning, he had a good feeling about the show, which is why the Pilot episode is still his favorite.

“The reason I say that is because I knew when I read the script, there was one thing I wrote on the front of the script, I just wrote: This show has legs,” he explained. “I just meant that because I thought ‘This show could go anywhere.’ It could just go on and on and on.”

I didn’t know that I’d be right, like, I wasn’t that astute to know that,” he added. “But it just felt like this was the show that was going to go on.”