The Walking Dead's Jeffrey Dean Morgan got hitched a couple years ago. It sounds like it could have been a lot sooner, though, because his now-wife Hilarie Burton has revealed that Morgan apparently auditioned for her long-running show, One Tree Hill, long before the two ever met, and if he would have snagged the role the couple would have been introduced a lot sooner.
The ladies from the hit show One Tree Hill have reunited for a podcast called Drama Queens, and in the first episode of the podcast Hilarie Burton revealed that when she met her now-husband Jeffrey Dean Morgan, he told her he auditioned for a part on her show but didn’t end up getting it. This is what Burton said:
When I met Jeff, he was like, 'Oh, I auditioned for that show.' And I'm like, 'Wait, what?' My husband, Jeffrey, auditioned for [Craig] Sheffer's part. And he was like, 'I like the whole gritty, garage - you know, that edgy thing.'
Honestly, that sounds just like the style we have come to expect from Jeffrey Dean Morgan. The Watchmen actor has played a ton of excellent parts, a lot of which have gone under the radar. Back when One Tree Hill launched in 2003, Morgan was appearing in a lot of series for just an episode or two and had not locked down the persona that we know and love now. One Tree Hill would have been a larger part for him at the time.
The “gritty” character referred to was a series regular up until he was killed in Season 3, and had a few flashback scenes in Season 4 of One Tree Hill. If Jeffrey Dean Morgan had indeed gotten the part, he surely would have been spending a good amount of time around Hilarie Burton. In the same interview, the actress said she is sure she would have been won over by Morgan back then. Burton explained:
Had [Jeff] shown up in those tight jeans that Sheff was wearing, I would've definitely had kids earlier.
They say everything happens for a reason, and it just may be that the two stars were not ready to meet back then. The couple does have two children together, and if they had met sooner and had those kids years before they did, they certainly would not be the same children they are now. Hopefully both stars would say that the timing worked out pretty perfectly.
Jeffery Dean Morgan and Hilarie Burton have appeared together on screen, even if it wasn’t on One Tree Hill. Burton joined her husband on The Walking Dead, and interestingly enough played his character’s wife. The chemistry shared by the two was natural and brought out a softer and more relatable side to Morgan’s Negan. There are no known plans for the two to appear in another project together right now, but one can certainly hold out hope!
