'Welcome to the renaissance of the 2000s hunk'

The year is 2003 and you can't go anywhere without hearing 'Crazy In Love' by Beyoncé. Mini skirts and berets are in, less-is-more is out, and both The OC and One Tree Hill have just landed on Channel 4, catapulting the fictional lives of young and attractive students from California onto your TV screen.

Along with the fashion, the drama and the love-triangles, the casts also acted as an introduction to the hunkiest of hunks - aka Chad Michael Murray as Lucas Scott and Ben McKenzie as Ryan Atwood, and everyone's favourite adorable nerd, Seth Cohen, played by Adam Brody. To put it bluntly, there was swooning going on, and Seventeen posters going up, on all sides of the pond, thanks to their existence.

In lots of ways, The OC and One Tree Hill acted the blueprint for many of the YA-dramas that followed. What could be better than putting troubled, rich (and did we mention good looking?) American tweens at the centre of everything, chucking floppy hair, brilliant character arcs and, er, that random scene with a gun(?) into the mix.

In the two decades that followed, good looking dudes on screen have come and gone. But it's good news for anyone who's maintained a flickering flame for the original 2000s heartthrobs, because the renaissance is upon us.

It only takes one glance at the internet this month to know Adam Brody is well and truly back in action as the hot rabbi from Nobody Wants This, essentially playing a grown-up version of Seth Cohen. Now going by Noah, he's still as charming and slightly dorky as ever, as he navigates a potential relationship with sex-podcaster Joanne (played by Kristen Bell) in what feels like a genuinely satisfying rom-com.

Fans have since been taking to the internet to stake their claim on the actor, nodding to the fact he's ageing like a fine wine. "I can confirm I am still in love with Adam Brody after two decades," one wrote, while another said, "Adam Brody’s rizz in this show is off the charts. It’s like Seth Cohen grew a beard and realised how fine he was and sent an entire generation of O.C. girls into heat."

Meanwhile, Netflix recently announced a Christmas film thirst trap was on the horizon, starring none other than Chad Michael Murray, who recently stole the show in their movie Mother of the Bride.

In the festive special, "Britt Robertson and Chad Michael Murray try to save a small-town performing venue by staging an all-male, Christmas-themed revue in new holiday film The Merry Gentlemen," the streaming service wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter), alongside not one, but two topless photos of Chad.

The reaction was, as you can imagine, a warm one. "Netflix I am SEATED," one person wrote in response, while others put, "I speak for everyone when I say we will be watching" and "He's so damn fine." Others put, "Oh we are so back!!" and "Well, this is gold."

All this comes off the back of Josh Harnett having his big moment in 2023, where he fronted an episode of Black Mirror and starred in Guy Ritchie's Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre, a world way from The Virgin Suicides of 2000, while Josh Hutcherson from The Hunger Games also landed the lead in Five Nights At Freddy's.

And of course, we can't revive the men of the noughties without giving a shout out to Gossip Girl himself, aka Penn Badgeley, who successfully made the transition from 2007's anorak-y sidekick to the heavily romanticised Joe Goldberg from You. Season five's due on screens next year.

Can someone tell Netflix it's Corbin Bleu's go next?

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