Mischa Barton, star of the early 2000s teen drama The OC, says that she wished she could have further explored her character Marissa’s bisexuality during the show’s run.
In the show’s second season, The OC introduced Alex Kelly, the “bad girl” of the show played by Olivia Wilde. She had tattoos, was expelled from high school, and was openly bisexual, hence the “bad girl” title. Marissa apparently had a thing for bad girls and the two quickly became a couple. The relationship between Marissa and Alex became highly publicized as a queer storyline was unheard of at the time.
Marissa’s sexuality was debated, and many fans thought it was “just a phase” while others asserted that she was bisexual. Barton has officially revealed to The Gay Times that she is team “Marissa is a bicon.”
“I do. I do think that. That’s the thing, they were trying to write off so many of her things as “phases” like her drug use and alcohol use. I mean, [her bisexuality] was touched on but not really properly looked into. I definitely see that for Marissa,” Barton told The Gay Times.
Barton added that creator Josh Schwartz and executive producer Stephanie Savage have “recently” been speaking about how they “maybe didn’t do enough to flesh out” Marissa and Alex’s relationship.
“But, it was hard to even get that approved at the time. We really wanted that storyline, and we have some regrets that we weren’t able to do more with the Olivia and me storyline and really explore it more,” said Barton.
“They really fell for each other and were a really cute couple, but I think Josh wishes he could’ve written it a bit more in-depth.”
Not a fan of The OC at the time? Here’s a quick recap of all of the scenes with Marissa and Alex to get you up to speed.
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