Kieren Hutchison - One Tree Hill Family Tree Interview

- ONE TREE HILL- FAMILY TREE EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW (2008)

FAMILY TREE

Today The CW Network airs the 100th episode of One Tree Hill. The main event in the episode is the wedding of Lucas (Chad Michael Murray) and Lindsey (Michaela McManus). The wedding brings back Lucas's mother Karen (Moira Kelly), her daughter Lily (Mary Kate Englehardt) and the man in her life: Andy Hargrove (Kieren Hutchison).

Andy first came to One Tree Hill in the second season of the show. He was introduced as a love interest for Karen and also supported Lucas in his fight against his father Dan (Paul Johansson). Andy was very popular and stayed on the show for 17 episodes, making his last appearance in the season finale when he had to return to his native New Zealand to support his ill mother.

Karen decided to follow him to New Zealand at the end of the episode, but returned to Tree Hill alone at the beginning of the third season. She had left Andy because he wanted to start a family with her, but Karen did not want to raise another child. Karen then got together with Keith (Craig Sheffer), who was eventually shot dead by his brother Dan, leaving Karen behind alone giving birth to their daughter at the end of season four. The fifth season of One Tree Hill leaps forward four years, which is unprecedented in the annals of television drama, and finds Andy and Karen back together, travelling the world with Lily.

Kieren kindly answered a few questions about his work on the episode.

How did you find out they wanted you back on the show? Did they tell you right away that you were going t be in the 100th episode?
They called up about a month beforehand to see if I was available. I didn’t know right away that it was the 100th episode, I worked that out when I was invited to the 100th episode party just before shooting began!

How did you feel about that?
I thought it was great! I always enjoyed playing Andy, so I was very happy to see him part of a big milestone for the show.

What was it like coming back to Wilmington after almost three years?
No doubt about it, that was weird. Walking around the town it felt like I had time travelled back to 2005… A lot has happened in my life since I left the show, so it was odd to be back in a place that felt exactly the same as it was then. Catching up with the actors and crew members was awesome too, we picked up where we left off.

Taking into account what has happened to Karen in seasons three and four and the experiences you had since you last were on the show, did you change your approach of the character compared to your portrayal of Andy in season two?
Not really, I think he’s essentially the same guy. He seems to be enjoying his wealth a bit more, instead of teaching he’s spent a few months travelling the world with Karen and her daughter Lily in his yacht! He has a lot of understanding and compassion towards the Keith situation, but at the same time I think he feels very fortunate to get a second chance with Karen. If anything he is probably a bit more content this time around.

Was working on an anniversary episode different to filming an ‘ordinary’ episode?
Yeah, I guess the main difference would be the fact that there are more scenes that have a lot of characters in them. Usually Andy is in scenes with just a few characters like Karen, Lucas or Dan. This episode had a wedding in it and a couple of other situations where basically every character on the show is there. That’s obviously a lot of fun, but at the same time it can be tough because you have less to do and it takes longer to shoot. I think the audience will enjoy seeing everyone together, though.

Do you have a favourite or memorable moment from shooting “Hundred”?
Filling in the blanks of what has happened to our characters with Moira in between takes. We had some fun with that, imagining that Andy is actually some kind of secret agent and they were off solving crimes and saving the world offscreen. Silly stuff.