Chris Keller and Mia Catalano may have never actually met on One Tree Hill, but actors Tyler Hilton and Kate Voegele are a musical match made in heaven.
“Our characters never crossed paths on the show,” Voegele, 39, told Us Weekly exclusively backstage at the New York City stop of their Celebrating the Music of One Tree Hill tour on December 13, 2025.
“And we’ve actually never even seen each other’s episodes,” Hilton, 42, added. “Our relationship has only been outside the show, even though much of our touring has been about the show.”
Hilton was introduced to the Tree Hill universe in 2004 as cocky indie artist Chris Keller, who puts a strain on Nathan (James Lafferty) and Haley’s (Bethany Joy Lenz) relationship in season 2 of the hit show. While he was an antagonist, Chris became an instant fan-favorite and returned for several more seasons throughout the series.
Voegele was also introduced as a musician on the show in her first — and only — acting credit. Her character, Mia, first appeared in season 5 as the first artist signed to Haley and Peyton’s (Hilarie Burton Morgan) Red Bedroom Records. She also garnered a significant fanbase and returned for several additional seasons.
Yet somehow, two of One Tree Hill’s most beloved musicians never actually met onscreen.
“We hear a lot about it from the fans,” Voegele told Us of the show, which she and Hilton have yet to watch all the way through. “We keep saying, ‘Oh, we need to sit down and do this.’ And then we realize there’s, like, 24 episodes in a season.”
“We keep saying, when we’re in the old person’s home together at some point — which we will inevitably end up in the same convalescent home — we’ll be like, ‘Alright, let’s push play,’” Hilton joked. “Let’s just do this and see what we’re missing.”
After years of fielding fan requests for the songs they played on One Tree Hill, Hilton and Voegele finally decided to go full OTH and tour the world while playing songs from the show. Celebrating the Music of One Tree Hill kicked off in Saint Paul, Minnesota, in September and is set to conclude in Paris in May. Highlights from their set include “When the Stars Go Blue” and “Hallelujah” duets, Hilton’s “Missing You” and “Loaded Gun” and Voegele’s “No Good.”
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“The show has gotten so big again out of nowhere,” Hilton told Us. “And so that’s how we decided, why don’t we just do a One Tree Hill music tour and do it worldwide? … Let’s just lean all the way into it for the first time ever. We’ve never done something like this, just songs from the show, just talking about the show. And it’s been really fun.”
Like many shows from the early aughts, OTH took on a new life when younger fans discovered it on streaming platforms like Hulu and Netflix. Stars Lenz, Burton and Sophia Bush even launched a rewatch podcast titled “Drama Queens” in 2021.
“The themes of the show are pretty universal, even though it started filming a while ago,” Voegele said of the upsurge in viewership. “It feels really special to do something that’s exclusively for those fans, because the One Tree Hill family just keeps getting bigger and it’s awesome.”
Hilton concluded: “There’s something so unserious about it too, because when you have a new record, you’re like, ‘Guys, this song I just wrote means a lot to me. Shut up. I’m playing this song.’ [But] this has felt like such an unserious tour in such a fun way. No pressure, no ego, everyone’s just here to celebrate this TV show that happened 20 years ago.”
The magic that was created on the show’s nine-season run from 2003 to 2012 clearly extends beyond the fanbase: from Hilton and Voegele’s tour to the podcast to conventions and beyond, it seems like the cast can’t stop working together.
They’ve done several Christmas movies together (including 2019’s A Christmas Wish starring Burton Morgan, Hilton, Lee Norris and several others); James Lafferty and Stephen Colletti cocreated and star in comedy series Everyone Is Doing Great; and Voegele even started a band with another OTH musician, Mike Grubbs, Your Future Ghost.
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“There’s something really cool about coming up together in this really unique family that the cast and crew of the show really was and is,” Voegele told Us. “It fosters a creative collaboration that is very difficult to engineer on your own … Maybe it helped that we were in a tiny town in North Carolina, [but] we’re all on the same wavelength in a way. These people understand my life and my experience more than anyone else. And there’s something that creates a creative magic in that.”
Those creative partnerships aren’t going anywhere, either. In August 2024, it was reported that a sequel series is in development with Bush, Burton Morgan and Danneel Ackles at the helm. While they, like the fans, remain ever hopeful, sadly, Hilton told Us, “We don’t know anything. I wish we did.”
“I know that it has been real, and I don’t know what state it is [in] now, but I’ve met some of the writers and some of the people on it at different stages [and] it seems like it’s been really cool,” Hilton said. “I hope it gets going, but who knows.”
He added: “Getting a TV show off the ground is crazy. Getting it to film is crazy. Getting a first season is an absolute miracle. Having a show go nine seasons and then keep coming back is once in a generation. So who knows. We’re out here hoping.”
