The O.C. Cast Reveals Where Their Characters Would Be Now, Their Favorite Songs, and More Scoop

Welcome (back) to the dark side, O.C. fans. At The Unauthorized O.C. Musical in Los Angeles last night, hearts were set aflutter with some serious Newport nostalgia—from Marissa shooting Trey during “Hide and Seek” to Seth and Summer’s epic Spider-Man kiss to “Champagne Supernova.” But the action didn’t just happen onstage—some of the O.C. OGs were sitting in the audience, making the night even more unforgettable.

Rachel Bilson (Summer Roberts), Kelly Rowan (Kirsten Cohen), Melinda Clarke (Julie Cooper), and creative team Josh Schwartz, Stephanie Savage, and McG all sat together during the show. We caught up with a few of them to dish about their characters’ futures, their favorite quotes, and iconic musical moments. Spoiler alert: Seth and Summer are still perfect.

The Cast’s Favorite Musical Moment

Rachel Bilson (Summer Roberts): I remember “Hide and Seek” because it was my first time hearing it, and it’s still so awesome.

Melinda Clarke (Julie Cooper): The title song, “California,” for sure!

The incredible @OCMusical cast belting out "California." #TheOCMusical pic.twitter.com/3iB2tJYzRU

— Alyse Whitney (@AlyseWhitney) August 31, 2015

Autumn Reeser (Taylor Townsend and O.C. Musical‘s Julie Cooper): The moment I was so excited to see wasn’t even my song—it was “Champagne Supernova.” I just think that’s such a beautiful number. I love the way they staged it with all the scenes from “Rainy Day Women” with the umbrellas. All of these incredible actors and singers sound amazing. I feel so blessed to be on this stage with every single one of these performers, I could cry.

Molly McCook (O.C. Musical‘s Marissa Cooper): When we sang “Hallelujah” at the end with the slideshow [of photos from the original show], I was kind of tearing up a little bit since some of the cast members were here, and for them to watch these memories back with the song that was so iconic was a big deal.

Brendan Robinson (O.C. Musical‘s Seth Cohen): “Champagne Supernova” in the musical. It’s a great moment for so many different characters—not only Seth and Summer. It was my idea to have a rip-away Spider-Man shirt. They weren’t sure what they were going to do with the microphone and getting the mask over it, so we improvised.

__Tilky Jones (O.C. Musical‘s Ryan Atwood): __”Strange and Beautiful.” Now that’s one of my favorite songs, and I think Molly and I are going to try to do it as a cover.

Where Are the Characters Now?

Autumn: [Taylor is in] politics. Definitely politics. She’d be doing something like working with Hillary Clinton.

Melinda: It’s funny. When we did the finale and Julie got her degree, it was in something like metaphysics. So I think she’s working for John Edwards. She’s a psychic!

Rachel: We don’t want to disappoint the fans, so of course [Seth and Summer] are happily married with kids!

The Cast’s Favorite Quotes and Scenes

Melinda: I love when she says, “Is this a booty call?” to Caleb, and I love “your sticky little fingers aren’t going to ruin my party” with Marissa.

Rachel: I still say “Ew!” all the time. [Laughs]

Autumn: “The Chrismukk-huh?” was fun because we got to crawl up on a roof and then spend an entire week of lying in a hospital bed, and you don’t get to do that often as an actor. The episode where Ryan is having fantasies about Taylor was so fun. When do you get to soap up a window? That was ridiculous and so much fun! And roller skates? Hello, I got to wear roller skates and get paid for it. Could life be any better than that moment?

Brendan: Definitely when Marissa shoots Trey! Now that’s iconic.

Molly: I’m so glad we got to do the scene, where Julie says to Marissa, “Tell me what’s bothering you,” and she says, “You really want to know what’s bothering me?!” And then she screams. I was upset because I wanted to throw a lounge chair in the pool too.

Other Fun Tidbits

When we asked Rachel what Summer’s theme song would be, she deferred to creator Josh Schwartz. His suggestion? Boyz II Men, which she giggled and agreed to. “Yeah, absolutely. ‘Motownphilly’!” she suggested, before he chimed in with another idea: Warren G and Nate Dogg’s “Regulate.”

Autumn says if The O.C. was on today, she would play Julie Cooper. “I play a lot of women similar to this, so it was really fun, and I was so excited that Melinda was here,” she said before the show. “I didn’t know she was going to be here! Such a nice surprise.”

Because Brendan and Tilky were both on Pretty Little Liars, we suggested a PLL musical. Brendan would love to play Ezra in it, and he’d cast the four Liars as their moms in the show. Tilky would love to play Brendan’s character, Lucas.