Adam Brody Reportedly Made This Surprising Career Move Before Doing 'Nobody Wants This'

While many of us got to know Adam Brody as the charming and sarcastic Seth Cohen from The O.C., reports say Brody himself isn’t too keen on stepping back into his shoes. After all, while The O.C. was undoubtedly a success between 2003 and 2007, it seems the chapter is long behind him.

According to a new source, Brody talked about a potential reboot of the show, which also starred Mischa Barton, Ben McKenzie and Rachel Bilson, with show creator Josh Schwartz.

“At some point during the early part of the pandemic, the ball started rolling on the idea of bringing back The O.C. with the former teen stars returning as adults and introducing a new cast of SoCal high schoolers,” the source told Life & Style. “I can’t speak to who exactly from the cast was enthusiastic about the idea, but Adam was firmly against it and essentially talked the creator of the show, Josh Schwartz, out of the idea.”

Overall, it seems Brody and Schwartz wanted to leave The O.C. as the iconic show it once was, and not risk a reboot disappointing fans.

“You don’t see this happen a lot, especially these days, and everybody became aware of the fact that Adam and Josh turned down a lot of money because they are so focused on protecting the legacy of the original mid-2000s series,” the source said.

Knowing how some reboots have done well, like Fuller House, and others have been riddled with criticisms, like And Just Like That, we’d say they chose the safest bet.

But not only was the choice safe, but it also opened Brody up to take on the role of Rabbi Noah in Netflix’s hit series Nobody Wants This.

“[It] turned out to be a genius strategic move for Adam,” the source said. “If he had taken the easy O.C. money, he wouldn’t have been cast in Nobody Wants This, which has become a true phenomenon this fall.”

The show, which also stars Kristen Bell, quickly became one of the platform’s biggest series after its release in September.

“It’s pretty great,” Brody told Backstage about the show’s success. “It’s very gratifying, and I’m so happy people have found some of my work now. I’m very proud of the stuff I’ve done in the last 20 years, but I sure know the difference between a hit and not and something that’s not a hit, and the palpable difference and essentially the difference between a vast amount of people seeing your work and not. And most of it is the latter. So when something hits, it’s very satisfying, and it feels like, at least for me, who has been doing it a long time, it feels like a result of all the work.”

“It’s related to everything I’ve done in the last 20 years, you know, I didn’t get this job because I wasn’t working for 20 years,” he explained. “And so, yeah, it feels like they’re still related—the work that’s seen, and not because, somebody’s seen it. And, also, you grow, you know, as an actor, you learn.”

Nobody Wants This has already been renewed on Netflix, so we’ll continue to see Brody on the small screen no matter what!

Before you go, click here to see all the nostalgic hits getting movie and TV reboots.