When MTV’s The Hills aired its series finale back in 2010, the hit reality series winked at its viewers with a final scene that famously showed Brody Jenner standing in the middle of what appeared to be a Los Angeles street, only for a backdrop to roll away and the camera to pan out, revealing him actually standing on a Hollywood backlot.
The show, which premiered in May 2006 following the success of MTV’s Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County, paved the way for the “docusoap” shows that followed (think Keeping Up With the Kardashians and the Real Housewives franchise), but its finale seemed to be admitting the whole thing was an act.
“I thought it was a little bit confusing as an audience member,” cast member Whitney Port told BuzzFeed News in a special taping of Profile set to air on Facebook Watch Sunday morning. (Port appeared in the first four seasons of the original show.)
But now that the reboot is set to air June 24, Port said The Hills: New Beginnings will feel more real and authentic.
“I think that this time around, the production company really wanted to make sure that the fans weren’t being lied to at all,” she said.
Most of the original cast will be returning to The Hills: New Beginnings, including Port, Jenner, Spencer and Heidi Pratt, Audrina Patridge, and Justin “Bobby” Brescia. They — along with Jason and Ashley Wahler, and Frankie and Jen Delgado — all sat down with BuzzFeed News for the special taping of Profile.
Newcomers Mischa Barton — yes, that Mischa Barton from The OC — and Brandon Thomas Lee have also joined the cast. But Kristin Cavallari won’t appear on the reboot because of her previous contract with E! regarding her new reality series on the network, Very Cavallari. Lauren Conrad, the original Laguna Beach star whom The Hills was created around, will also not be returning to the show.
Port, who used to work with Conrad at Teen Vogue on the first iteration of The Hills, said that the reboot will feature more behind-the-scenes looks at the cast members’ real lives compared to the more staged versions of their supposedly glamorous lives in LA during their twenties.
“There’s so much reality TV nowadays and people can smell when something is not real,” she said. “So I think it was super important this time around that they film a lot and they film, you know, everybody’s different relationships over and over and over so that you could really see how people were getting along or not.”
Patridge agreed with Port, saying she understands why fans would be confused by the show’s original ending but that the upcoming reboot has a deeper level of authenticity.
“The ending was so tongue-in-cheek. I feel like everyone’s so confused whether it’s real or fake,” Patridge told BuzzFeed News. “And I feel like this time around it’s very raw, it’s very real. Everyone’s really more vulnerable, more opinionated, we’re all more comfortable with each other.”
Like most members of the cast, Port and Patridge are now parents. They told BuzzFeed News that growing up and having new adult responsibilities had changed their perspectives on what counts as “drama.”
“Once I had my child, Kirra ... I see people, I see situations very clearly,” Patridge said. “It’s like you see through the BS, kind of, and you cut a lot of people out of your life.”
“It’s just things that used to matter just don’t matter anymore,” she said.
Heidi Pratt, who famously had a falling out with her former best friend Conrad on the show, echoed Patridge and said her priorities have shifted.
“It absolutely changes from who is going out to the club with each other, who likes whose boyfriend,” she told BuzzFeed News. “I mean I think that’s all a little bit behind us.”
Watch the cast of The Hills: New Beginnings on Profile on Sunday morning on Facebook Watch.