James Lafferty Recalls Filming ‘One Tree Hill’ in Wilmington, North Carolina [Interview]

*Please note this interview was conducted prior to the SAG-AFTRA strike.

It’s been 20 years since the iconic teen series One Tree Hill first premiered, and it continues to be a significant part of the culture in my hometown of  Wilmington, North Carolina, where the series was filmed.

So when I spoke with actor James Lafferty during the ATX Television Festival earlier this summer about his series Everyone is Dong Great, I also had to ask him about his time living in Wilmington, NC. Lafferty, of course, is known for his role as Nathan Scott on the series.

(You can watch the full interview below.)

When asked about his memories of living in Wilmington, Lafferty immediately recalled the experience of his first hurricane. 

“Seeing the eye of a hurricane for the first time, that calm and stillness that comes over everything was just so surreal. I remember being pretty scared. I actually think I flew out of town for the first one, and then some local friends finally got me to stick around for another one that was coming through, that wasn’t, obviously, dangerous,” he said. “It was such a special experience.”

Lafferty also talked about how he was able to watch the town grow.

“It’s grown so much since I started living there. Wrightsville Beach [and] downtown — you know, to be young in those places was really, really awesome. I felt like I did have a little bit of my college years there, even though I was working through it.”

Of course, I also had to ask about his favorite Wilmington spots. “There used to be a steakhouse downtown called Deluxe that the whole cast really loved. I feel like we were in there all the time. I’ve always loved Tower 7 out at Wrightsville Beach, and Nikki’s Sushi downtown,” Lafferty recalled. “Tower 7 is pretty much my first and last stop any time I go to Wilmington.”

Watch the full interview with James Lafferty about filming in Wilmington, NC:

Twenty years after the premiere, One Tree Hill still has a strong fanbase. It’s something Wilmington has become known for, and for Lafferty, that’s an interesting experience.

“People will let us know that there’s trinkets and things in the shops that are One Tree Hill related, and you see it as well when you walk around. Which is wild to me because it wasn’t like that when we were actually there,” Lafferty said. “I don’t know if it’s because of streaming and being on Netflix for a while or whatever, but I think that the pilgrimages to Wilmington have really grown since the show actually ended.”

“It’s a wonderful, wonderful thing. But it’s also a little bit bizarre for us to be walking around and seeing this stuff that wasn’t there when we were actually shooting the show.”

As of this summer, Lafferty was also fairly certain he’d be back in Wilmington soon. “I think I’ll be back there this Fall,” he said. “Any excuse that I can get to go back to Wilmington, I’m going.”

Watch our interview with Lafferty about Everyone is Doing Great:

—

 Follow us on Twitter and on Instagram!

Want more from Tell-Tale TV? Subscribe to our newsletter here!

James Lafferty, Stephen Colletti, and Phoenix Washington Discuss ‘Everyone is Doing Great’ Season 2 [Interview]