According to actor Robbie Jones, Quentin “Q” Fields was “supposed to be around” much longer than he was on One Tree Hill.
“This all unfolded because my series regular deal fell apart,” Jones, 46, said of his character’s shocking death on the Monday, December 4, episode of the “Drama Queens” podcast. Jones joined the hit teen drama during its fifth season in 2008, after which he got an offer to become a series regular.
Q was introduced in season 5 as one of Haley’s (Bethany Joy Lenz) students and star player of the Tree Hill Ravens basketball team. Jones was in New Orleans filming his first movie, 2009’s Hurricane Season, with Forest Whitaker when he was presented with the offer. With the film helping to give his career some “momentum,” he and his manager sought after an agent to help them seal the series regular deal.
“My manager, he did his own thing. He went rogue,” Jones explained to costars Hilarie Burton Morgan, Sophia Bush and Lenz, 42. “Needless to say, we split ways after this whole thing. And then, our EP called me and was like, ‘Hey, Rob. So, we’ve been going back and forth with your manager and it’s looking like this isn’t going to happen,’ ‘cause it got to one of those take it or leave it situations.”
The EP allegedly then proceeded to inform him of his plans to kill off his character. “[He said], ‘I mean, we love you, we wanted you, but I have an idea of how this could really affect the whole show and duh, duh, duh, duh, duh,’ and he ran it all down to me,” Jones claimed.
As upsetting as the decision was, it was one Jones understood. “I literally was like, ‘That’s kind of brilliant. And I understand and as much as I hate that this is happening, you’ve made a successful show,’” he added. “You’re over a hundred episodes in. I cannot question any decision you’re making, no matter how it affects me and the way I feel, like, is negative. I appreciate the opportunity, love you, appreciate it.’”
Q was ultimately shot and killed by Xavier Daniels (Devin McGee) — the same man who attacked Brooke (Bush, 41) and broke into her clothing store — in the third episode of season 6. Q later returned as a ghost for a handful of episodes throughout the season.
“And that was that. We had a nice, long conversation about how he was gonna kill my character while I was in my hotel room shooting another movie, in between filming days,” Jones said on Monday. “And I was heartbroken.”
At the end of the day, Jones said his early OTH departure ended up being “the biggest massive blessing that it could have ever been,” adding, “It was right and it was supposed to happen like that and it’s paid dividends a million times over.”
Since his time on OTH, Jones has gone on to star in several projects such as Hellcats, Necessary Roughness, 90210, Bosch, The Fix, Titans and Fantasy Island. He married Sandi Tucker in 2016, with whom he shares two kids.
Last month, Jones reunited with several of his former OTH costars, including Bryan Greenberg, James Lafferty, Paul Johansson and Chad Michael Murray. “Home team 🟦⬛⬜️,” he captioned a group pic via Instagram.
