In another world, Chris Keller would have ended up with a James after all.
Tyler Hilton, who played one of One Tree Hill’s most memorable guest stars across the show’s nine seasons, recently told Us Weekly that there was interest in him being a series regular but it didn’t work out with his music commitments. He first appeared in season 2, meeting Peyton (Hilarie Burton Morgan) at the record store and being enlisted to play at her open mic night. His character subsequently served as a threat to Haley (Bethany Joy Lenz) and Nathan’s (James Lafferty)’s marriage as Chris hit on Haley.
“I always had a big crush on Joy, so I was definitely wanting them to push it farther,” Hilton told Us. “From my understanding, I don’t think our characters were supposed to end up together, but they did a lot of incorporating stuff that happened in real life into the show. Chris was supposed to be more sinister, but I was having a lot of fun with him, so they really leaned into the comedy of Chris. And then he became more of, like, someone you wanna punch in the face than literally kill.”
Chris came back in season 2 when the chemistry between Hilton and Lenz was clear.
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“Joy and I became friends and were jamming and stuff off set. I loved her music and I just thought she was so great. And that’s when they started kind of writing these scenes for us together. And I was like, ‘Oh, my God, this is so cool. … This is unbelievable,’” he continued. “But that’s when people started really hating me too.”
After leaving Nathan to go on tour (with Chris) during season 2, Haley returned to Tree Hill in the season finale, and Naley was fully back together by the middle of season 3. Chris, however, continued to pop up.
“They always were throwing around all kinds of crazy story lines. I never knew what was happening. A lot had to do with how much the label was allowing me at that point to be there,” Hilton told Us. “Every year, God bless them, One Tree Hill was trying to make Chris a main character, which would’ve been so fun, but it would’ve meant no touring and no promo. So if I had been a main character, who knows? They can only use me as much as I’m around then decide what they can do plot-wise.”
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According to Hilton, one of the ideas discussed was Chris dating one of Haley’s sisters. Fans met Taylor James (Lindsey McKeon) during season 2 and Quinn James (Shantel VanSanten) during season 7. Based on the timeline, Hilton was likely referring to Chris and Taylor as a potential match.
“I don’t know if I would’ve stayed around, if they would’ve broken up, but I know at one point — which I thought would’ve been so funny — they were gonna try to have me end up with Haley’s sister,” he said. “I’m sure if I would’ve stayed around, I would’ve just gone through all the girls, like a guy version of Brooke or whatever. Just spent time with all of them, which would’ve made sense and ruined everyone’s life a little bit.”
Hilton’s schedule did allow him to return for the ninth and final season, which aired in 2012. His story came full-circle when he ended up helping Haley save Nathan from Russian kidnappers. (Yes, you read that right.)
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“It totally spun out into ridiculousness. But so funny. Chris is one of my favorite characters I’ve ever gotten to play,” Hilton said. “If I got to play Chris Keller for the rest of my life, I would be really stoked. I would get these scripts and I would just laugh to myself so much and just cringe and be like, ‘I can’t believe they’re gonna do this.’ Some of the actors while we were filming, like Sophia [Bush] and different people, we’d be doing scenes and they’d call cut and she’d be like, ‘I want to f***ing punch you so bad right now.’ He was just so easy to hate, and it was so fun to be that guy.”
