It seems that everyone of a certain age has an unexplainable affection for the stars of the late, arguably great teen drama Dawson's Creek.  I shook my head in disbelief when Katie Holmes married Tom Cruise, cheered when Michelle Williams earned an Oscar nomination for Brokeback Mountain, and tuned into shows like Fringe and Justice just to see stars from the Creek try something new.  Unfortunately, Dawson himself, James Van Der Beek, hasn't had much luck shaking his teen idol image.  He's had memorable guest-starring stints on How I Met Your Mother and Criminal Minds, as well as a great turn on the big screen in The Rules of Attraction, but aside from that the Beek has been MIA.

Van Der Beek may never be able to shake the Dawson image, so why not embrace it?  Entertainment Weekly has announced that the actor will be returning to his teen drama roots with an appearance on One Tree Hill later this season.

In an upcoming episode of One Tree Hill, Lucas will be entertaining offers to turn one of his books into a big screen movie.  Van Der Beek will play a director interested in the project in one episode, which should air in late November.  "The specter of Dawson's Creek is always around us," says series creator Mark Schwahn.  "We're about to [complete] 128 episodes, which is what Dawson's did.  So I thought it would be cool to get James."

Not only will Van Der Beek be returning to the same Wilmington, North Carolina production lot where Dawson's Creek was filmed, but the character sounds remarkably similar to Dawson.  It's not hard to imagine the movie-obsessed teenager growing up, moving to Hollywood and becoming a director of touching indie dramas.  It'd be even better if Van Der Beek actually was reprising his Dawson role, but I'm sure there are various legal reasons why that can't happen.

I'm curious to see how One Tree Hill handles this book-to-movie storyline.  It could be done completely unrealistically, or it could be a lot of fun to watch.  I think it'd be rather hilarious to see other actors cast to portray the entire Tree Hill gang.  However it turns out, at least we'll have the thrill of experiencing a Dawson's Creek/One Tree Hill crossover.  Maybe Kerr Smith can pop up next as a gay guy who falls in love with Nathan.


- Don Williams, BuddyTV Staff Writer
Source: Entertainment Weekly
(Image courtesy of WireImage)