Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage have openly acknowledged that killing off Marissa Cooper in The O.C.’s season-three finale was a “terrible mistake.” In an excerpt from Alan Sepinwall’s forthcoming oral history of the show, featured in Vanity Fair, the cast, crew, production team, and Television Without Pity commentators delve into the reasons behind Mischa Barton’s departure from The O.C. and reflect on why, in hindsight, those reasons were flawed.
Recapper Daniel Blau Rogge emphasizes the need for a critical examination of the show’s treatment of women, considering the era it originated from. Savage looks back on Barton’s isolation on set and her simultaneous immersion in the Perez Hilton celebutante world, recognizing how these factors might have influenced the decision to write off Marissa. Savage regrets not providing Barton with the support she needed, stating, “We had the ability to give her a little tugboat to go back and forth. And we didn’t do that, and I regret that.” Josh Schwartz and Stephanie
Former Fox programmer Yvette Urbina attributes the decision to kill off Marissa to then–Fox Entertainment chairman Peter Liguori, pointing out the network’s pressure to eliminate a significant character. Savage notes that there was never serious consideration of removing characters like Seth (Adam Brody), Ryan (Ben McKenzie), or Sandy (Peter Gallagher). She reveals that both Brody and McKenzie would have been open to their characters being killed off. Kelly Rowan, who played Kirsten Cohen, recalls her character almost facing death in a different car crash. She expresses confusion about the decision to remove Marissa, believing it was a major misstep that disrupted the chemistry of the core foursome. Rowan states, “That whole foursome, the chemistry with those four actors, screwing with that, I thought, was a big mistake.”