If you’re looking for Nathan Scott and Chase Adams, this isn’t the show! In 2018, One Tree Hill alum James Lafferty and Stephen Colletti decided to write a TV show about actors trying to find their ways after starring in a massively successful show. Their series Everyone Is Doing Great will debut on Hulu this month — but don’t expect to see the teen heartthrob characters that you fell in love with during the CW hit, which aired from 2003 to 2012.
However, both Colletti, 34, and Lafferty, 35, did worry a bit about One Tree Hill fans seeing something so different from the characters they were so attached to. Luckily, they’ve gotten some great responses.
“It’s a little racy! We’ve had the fortunate experience to show it at some festivals and get some feedback from some people that are fans of the shows that we’ve been on before. For the most part, it’s been overwhelmingly positive, which is a great relief for us, because there definitely has been that thought or that concern of ‘Will they like this?'” Colletti said on the “Watch With Us” podcast on Tuesday, January 12. “They’ve got such an affinity for those characters and then to see these people that played them differently — there’s a little bit of concern there.”
The Hometown Christmas actor added that fans of One Tree Hill have grown up, just like they have. “[They want] to see something a little more edgy and with a little sharper life experience,” he said. “I think that that can relate to that.”
Lafferty, who directs seven of the eight episodes — Colletti directs the other — of Everyone Is Doing Great, added that fans welcome a “more stripped-down version” of the stars.
“I think it helps that we’re not playing those characters that they saw on TV. We’re playing the people that played those characters. It’s sort of, like, meta and detached from those characters enough that it makes it a little bit more inviting for people,” he said, noting that this show has more of an “Indie” feel — and visually, fans will see that.
“It’s more raw and it’s rougher around the edges. I mean, a show like The Royals or One Tree Hill is very beautifully shot and really soft around the edges. They’re gorgeous,” the Right Stuff star said. “Our show is supposed to feel a little bit more like life, with all of its flaws.”
Everyone Is Doing Great debuts on Hulu Wednesday, January 13.