‘OTH’ cast reacts to ‘maddening’ reason behind beloved character’s death

The One Tree Hill cast is still not over beloved character Quentin’s tragic death on the show.

On Monday’s episode of their podcast, Drama Queens, actresses Sophia Bush, Hilarie Burton, and Bethany Joy Lenz sat down with their former OTH co-star Robbie Jones and learned the real reason behind why his character, Quentin “Q” Fields, was written off the show, warning in the podcast description that “the reason may make you just as mad as when it happened.’

“This all unfolded because my series regular deal fell apart,” revealed Jones of the demise of his character, who was originally “supposed to be around” much longer than he was.

Jones, 46, was offered to become a series regular by the end of season 5, which was also his first season on the show. His character, Q, was introduced as a troubled student in Joy Lenz’s character Haley’s class and the star player of the Tree Hill Ravens basketball team.

Though Jones’ character quickly became beloved by all, he was unexpectedly shot dead in season 6.

Explaining that his manager at the time “went rogue” while trying to secure the contract, Jones recalled that an executive producer eventually just told him that “it isn’t going to happen” and informed him of their plan to kill Q.

“It got to one of those take it or leave it situations,” he reflected, adding that he actually respected the writers’ decision.

But the hostesses – who have been very active and vocal during the SAG-AFTRA strikes – were not happy, with Bush interjecting to say, “And this is why we’re on hiatus – just so the people at home know.”