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One Tree Hill fans go through a lot throughout the show's 9-season run. Everything from family drama to psycho stalkers, kidnappers, and murder. But there's one down-to-earth moment in the series that confuses fans just as much as the outlandish ones: when Brooke (Sophia Bush) marries Julian (Austin Nichols) and her BFF Peyton (Hilarie Burton) isn't there.
Here's why Peyton (and Hilarie Burton) didn't come back for Brooke's wedding on One Tree Hill.
Why did Peyton not go to Brooke's wedding?
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In an episode of their Drama Queens rewatch podcast, Sophia Bush finally explained the real reason Peyton wasn't at Brooke's wedding: Hilarie Burton just...wasn't asked.
"Since you're talking about how much sh—t you got, I feel like this is a really important moment to tell our fans that we were told, Joy and I, that you had been invited back for the episode and said no," Sophia Bush says. "They had essentially asked us in the press to be like, 'Oh, well, you know, she was invited to come but was doing White Collar,' or whatever you were working on at the time...When I talked to you and found out that was a lie, I went ballistic. I was so mad. Oo I was mad!"
Sophia did tell Hollywood Life in 2011 that, "We really tried, and we of course would have been thrilled because their characters were big parts of our story. It doesn’t always work. So for the fans out there who always ask me on Twitter to get the bosses to ask them back, they’ve been asked back… but scheduling conflicts are scheduling conflicts.”
“Quite frankly, we just couldn’t make a deal,” creator Mark Schwahn also told TV Line at the time. “Everybody had the best intentions. But at the end of the day, it just didn’t work out.”
The fact that Peyton didn't show up to Brooke's wedding has always been a pain point with fans because it just doesn't make sense for her to miss her lifelong best friend's wedding! "Peyton should have been at Brooke's wedding," Bethany Joy Lenz says.
"Peyton should have been there and it wasn't up to any of us," Sophia adds.
Hilarie shed some light on the situation from her perspective, explaining that she only remembers getting one call to guest star, but she was heavily pregnant.
"I was pregnant with Gus, it was in October of I guess season 7, and my manager got a call that was like, 'Hilarie's on the board for this episode, so we're trying schedule her travel,'" she explains. "And we had had an epic fallout as I left the show, and my manager had been told all these things by our bosses that were just like horrific about me and that I'd never work again and all this stuff. And so it was just this really pleasant call from, like, a secretary...I was like super pregnant! And I was like 'Uh, I'm unavailable.'"
"We'll just have to do it again," Hilarie adds. Who knows, maybe the One Tree Hill sequel series will feature a vow renewal!
Does Brooke marry anyone in One Tree Hill?
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Yes, Brooke Davis marries film producer Julian Davis after he proposes in the season 7 finale, "Almost Everything I Wish I'd Said the Last Time I Saw You" — my favorite episode of television ever!
What episode does Brooke get married in One Tree Hill?
Brooke and Julian get married in One Tree Hill season 8, episode 13, "The Other Half Of Me."
Check out The One Moment That Proves Brooke Davis Is The Best Character On One Tree Hill for more!
