Rachel Bilson claims she was offered The Hills role before Mischa Barton

Rachel Bilson has claimed that she was asked to join the cast of The Hills before her former The OC co-star Mischa Barton.

Barton made her reality television debut in 2019’s The Hills: New Beginnings, a reboot of the popular MTV reality series The Hills. The original series followed a real-life group of young people growing up in Los Angeles, and was itself inspired by The OC.

On her podcast, Welcome to the OC, Bitches!, Bilson claimed that she had been asked to join the rebooted Hills before Barton.

“I was actually asked to be on The Hills, then I graciously passed,” Bilson said. “And then, who they wound up casting was Mischa.”

Barton said that she didn’t know anyone from the cast of The Hills before she was approached, but had once met star Lauren Conrad, though added that she doesn’t know her “too well”.

Bilson and Barton played best friends Summer Roberts and Marissa Cooper on The OC. Barton’s character was written out of the show in the third season.

The Hills ran on MTV from 2006 to 2010, before lying dormant until its two-season revival in 2019. In addition to casting Barton, the new cast included returning stars Whitney Port, Heidi Montag and Brody Jenner.

Barton recently said that starring in the reality show “was just kind of like a s***show.”