The O.C. feels like a great show to reboot. It focused on rich teenagers who had dramatic love lives, and it had a tone that was both light and dark, depending on the episode or the season. Creator Josh Schwartz doesn't want a new version so fans will have to settle for watching the four seasons over and over again.
It's been fun to keep up with the cast, as they have seen major changes in their lives. Rachel Bilson had her daughter, Briar Rose, in 2014, and Adam Brody and his wife Leighton Meester have two children.
Since leaving The O.C., Mischa Barton competed on Dancing With The Stars and has acted in some movies. But while people have always said that she wanted to leave the show that made her famous, is that really true?
Let's take a look at whether Mischa Barton wanted to leave The O.C.
A Career Choice?
Adam Brody doesn't love chatting about The O.C. but over the years, Mischa Barton has often discussed the teen drama that people know her for.
When it comes to the question of whether Mischa Barton quit The O.C., there are some different accounts that make it hard to know exactly what went down.
Mischa Barton has said that she wanted to move on with her acting career. According to Cheat Sheet, she said, “I just had a lot in my career that I wanted to do and accomplish. I felt like things were really heavily reliant upon me, and I was getting no time to do any of the other offers that were out there.”
Barton also said that while the writers could have kept Marissa alive, she thought that her character should definitely have a dark and tragic end. She explained, "I just don’t think sailing off into the sunset’s the proper goodbye. She’s one of those burnout characters where I don’t know how much more we could have done with her anyway," according to Cheat Sheet.
For The Show?
Creator Josh Schwartz called Marissa's passing away a "creative decision."
In an interview with The Huffington Post, he explained, "It was a hundred percent a creative decision for the show and it was born out of both feeling creatively like it was the direction the show needed to head and also, quite frankly, a function of needing to do something big to shake up the show at the end of that third season to both get the show to come back for a fourth season and, I think, to give the show a real creative jolt in Season 4 and move the show in its own surprising, unexpected direction."
Schwartz also said that Mischa Barton did a wonderful job portraying her character: he said, "But Mischa showed up every day and did her job and did a great job and worked really hard so it had nothing to do with her."
Fans will remember that when Marissa Cooper died, she and Ryan were driving in a car, and Kevin Volchok was right there, chasing them. After the car crashed, Marissa died from her horrible injuries.
Ben McKenzie, who played Marissa's love interest Ryan Atwood, shared with Entertainment Weekly how he felt about Marissa dying: he said, "It was… very odd to have someone who was in it from the beginning leave, but you know, it was dramatic in all the O.C. ways."
Mischa's Move To England
Fans might remember that Mischa Barton lived in England for a period of time. According to ABC News Go, Barton taped an interview while she was competing on Dancing With The Stars and talked about this time in her life.
The actress said about saying goodbye to Marissa, "I think I just got to the point where I was like, 'I'm not sure I'm enjoying this anymore.' I just felt like I was in a machine and I couldn't really get off. So it was time to step back. So I went back to England and it was just a year of real self-exploration.”
According to Us Weekly, Barton is from England and was born in Hammersmith, the UK, so it made sense for her to want to move back there.
In 2008, Mischa Barton was interviewed by Marie Claire UK and shared that finding some time to be a regular person was important to her. She said, "I’m not really sure what people’s preconceived notions are. I don’t look at the gossip websites – it’s unhealthy and I think it’s a large part of what drives people in LA crazy. I’m an actress, I’m in this to find the next great project. The fact is, I’m having a real-life and being a normal human being."
It's interesting to hear the different reasons why Mischa Barton left The O.C. before the fourth season, and it sounds like it worked out since Barton was able to live her life out of the limelight for a little while.
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