It was 22 years ago that Chad Michael Murray and James Lafferty first stepped onto the River Court as basketball-playing half brothers, Lucas and Nathan Scott on One Tree Hill, which aired from 2003 to 2012. On the hit show, their characters were often at odds, but offscreen, it’s always been nothing but love between the two actors. In fact, they used to — and still do — crack each other up.
“The only times I couldn’t stop laughing were when I was shooting scenes with him,” says Lafferty, 40. “It was only good times,” adds Murray, 44. “Really, really good times.”
Doug Inglish
We caught up with the former teen heartthrobs as they reunited in honor of PEOPLE’s Sexiest Man Alive issue, to dive deep into OTH lore — and, of course, ask where they stand on the “Naley vs. Leyton” of it all.
For more Sexiest Man Alive content, including cover star Jonathan Bailey, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE on newsstands Friday.
Who’s better at basketball?
CHAD MICHAEL MURRAY: James. During auditions I had to play one-on-one and failed miserably. I immediately got a basketball coach for the summer.
JAMES LAFFERTY: I played basketball in high school and I was not much older than the actual character, so it was right up my alley. Even though Chad didn’t love basketball, he loved the show and wanted it to be as good as it could be. And it showed from how quickly he learned.
Doug Inglish
MURRAY: I remember talking to the creators back in the day, and I was like, “Hey, guys, why don’t we turn it into a football show?” That didn’t happen.
How do you feel about your famous theme song by Gavin DeGraw?
MURRAY: I just don’t think you can name a better theme song than “I Don’t Wanna Be”.
LAFFERTY: Have you ever been somewhere, and they played it intentionally after you walked in? That’s happened to me, and it’s pretty mortifying.
How similar are you to your characters?
LAFFERTY: I think I was probably the most different from Nathan in those early seasons and more similar to him later when he was much more mild-mannered. But I did miss the hot temper. Almost every season, I would just wonder, where did that version of him go? I wanted to see it every once in a while.
MURRAY: I remember the same for Lucas. I was like, “Dude, Lucas is always the moral compass of the show. Can we do something bad for once? For the love of Pete, let me screw up and have some fun with it.” I think that that’s probably why I would shave my head or do something crazy with my hair.
What was your craziest hair moment on the show?
LAFFERTY: In season five they put extensions in my hair. I had this big, long lion’s mane, and then they took the hair they had previously cut from my head, chopped it into little tiny pieces and pasted it with glue onto my face every day for several episodes. It took hours and it was so itchy.
MURRAY: One time I went to the Bahamas with all my friends, as you do, and I lost a bet and had to bleach my hair. We got back to the show, and the producers liked it, so they just kept it. They didn’t dye it back to its original color.
LAFFERTY: I didn’t know this. We’re learning new things right now.
What was it like filming in North Carolina?
MURRAY: I had done Dawson’s Creek there, too. You’re in this small town, and we’re all going through the same process. We’re all away from home. We don’t really know anybody, and we’re working with each other every single day.
Doug Inglish
LAFFERTY: We were used to things like a hurricane blowing through town. Everybody would have hurricane parties in the hotel.
MURRAY: I think we all became a really close, tight family.
What’s your go-to sexy song?
LAFFERTY: “Pony” by Ginuwine. I don’t know why I pointed at Chad when I said that.
MURRAY: Because I know.
LAFFERTY: It’s our song.
Which couple was stronger: Nathan and Haley or Lucas and Peyton?
MURRAY: Is there a right answer?
LAFFERTY: Points for Leyton for going to live somewhere other than Tree Hill, which Naley didn’t do.
MURRAY: They’re on a yacht somewhere in New Zealand with Andy.
LAFFERTY: But honestly, the reaction to Naley in general is just wonderful. It really makes me feel like Joy [Lenz] and I did something right. I’m proud of it.
Would you ever revisit your roles?
LAFFERTY: We did the show and played those characters for nine years. It went such a distance. I’m not sure what the rest of that distance would be. No one wants to see Lucas and Nathan struggling with social media.
MURRAY: I don’t know if there’s a world where it works today. What made One Tree Hill so successful is that it surrounded a group of youths dealing with teen angsty issues. This show hit a sweet spot that we happened to be a part of, and I’m so grateful for it. It was lightning in a bottle.
