The O.C. aired four seasons before Gossip Girl took over as the leader in glitzy teen television. Centering on a group of friends in Orange County, California, the show saw Chino transplant Ryan Atwood deal with a whole new lifestyle. His host family, the Cohens, also didn’t exactly fit in with their shallow neighbors.
Witches and wizards from California (did anyone else start to hear the Phantom Planet theme for the series start to play?) wouldn’t have attended Hogwarts, but something tells us Seth Cohen knew exactly which Hogwarts house he’d be in if he could.
Ryan: Gryffindor
Ryan Atwood grew up quickly in a rough environment. His dad wasn’t around, his brother continually landed himself in trouble, and his mother was more interested in her boyfriends than she was her kids. As a result, Ryan had to take care of himself most of the time.
Ryan did so by standing up for himself, doing his brother’s dirty work, and always putting himself in front of his friends in a fight. He had a lot of loyalty to family and friends, but he was also quick to let his emotions guide him. That meant jumping to conclusions and always believing he was right. That’s very Gryffindor of him.
Kaitlin: Slytherin
When The O.C. first premiered, Kaitlin was played by a young Shailene Woodley. The character was a mini version of her mother, used to the finer things in life and accustomed to getting what she wanted. After being shipped off to boarding school, she returned, played by Willa Holland for the remainder of the series.
The older Kaitlin was still used to getting what she wanted, but she would do anything to get it. She never gave up on a good scheme, and she was always ready to cause a little trouble to distract everyone from her own problems. Kaitlin was a definite Slytherin.
Marissa: Hufflepuff
Marissa Cooper did some shady things. She snuck whole bottles of booze into society parties to drown her sorrows in the bathroom. She ran away from home and hid out with friends. Marissa Cooper, however, wasn’t as sneaky or ambitious as most of the people in her hometown. Instead, she was all about family and connection.
Early in the show, Marissa hated that her father was hiding something from the rest of the family. Before it turned out to be financial trouble, she kept trying to get him to talk to her. She also hated that money was what split her mother and father apart. Marissa expected loyalty from her friends, and she gave it in return. She was there for those around her having a hard time - whether it was helping Seth set up Ryan with a place to hide or comforting Luke when his dad came out. Marissa was the definition of a Hufflepuff.
Zach: Slytherin
Like a few more characters who will pop up on this list, Zach had a quick wit and a lot of artistic talent. Unlike those characters, however, he doesn’t get sorted into Ravenclaw.
Zach’s knowledge of pop culture and comics had him team up with Seth to create a comic book. The comic book opened a lot of doors for him, including a meeting with George Lucas about it. When Summer started to worry about what that comic book could mean for the future of her relationships, she gave Zach and Seth an ultimatum: she wouldn’t be involved with someone who decided to take the meeting. Zach gave up his relationship with Summer to further his own ambition. While it seems sketchy at first, can anyone really blame a teenager for pursuing his dream job when high school relationships rarely last beyond graduation? He was a Slytherin who knew the odds.
Anna: Ravenclaw
Anna Stern came to Orange County in the first season when her family made the move from Pennsylvania. She didn’t quite fit into the lives of the residents, which made her bond with Seth Cohen. Anna and Seth were like two sides of the same coin.
Anna was a good student; she even helped Summer study when they were both competing for Seth’s affection. While she wasn’t well versed in every subject, she did have a particular fondness for pop culture knowledge. She was the only one who seemed to get every reference made by the other characters on the show, and for her quick wit, we’ve got to sort her into Ravenclaw.
Luke: Gryffindor
Marissa Cooper clearly had a type. She liked people who put themselves out there, people willing to get themselves into trouble for standing up for themselves and others. Marissa, unfortunately, usually found those traits in people who actually did land in trouble a lot. One of those people was Luke.
Luke dated Marissa when the series first began, but the two broke up after she developed feelings for Ryan and Luke cheated on her. Despite the cheating, Luke was a good guy who made a lot of mistakes. As he became a more integral part of the group instead of a romantic rival, he opened up more, stood up for the little guys, and became a more understanding friend. The Gryffindor was in him all along.
Taylor: Ravenclaw
Introduced later in the series, Taylor was an ambitious student who constantly tried to find a way to make sure her high school record got her into a good university. It wasn’t just about status for her, but about learning.
Taylor seemed to have a working knowledge of just about any subject someone confronted her with - even romance. Unfortunately, her knowledge came from an affair with a member of the high school faculty and a marriage at 18 that didn’t work out. She didn’t let being unlucky in love stop her from her quest to know everything. Taylor had the ambitions of a Slytherin, but she was truly a Ravenclaw.
Theresa: Hufflepuff
The first time the audience met Theresa was when Ryan had to make a trip back to Chino to do his brother a favor. She was the girl next door before he met Marissa. Theresa seemed nice, though hurt by Ryan’s sudden departure. That proved true when she returned later in the series.
Trapped in an abusive relationship for a time on the show, Theresa sought out legal advance from Sandy and pursued a relationship with Ryan. When she realized she was pregnant, she lied to Ryan about whether or not she had the baby so as not to pull him away from his new life. Even when they rekindled their relationship later, she told him he wasn’t the father of her baby, though the writers strongly implied that he was. Theresa wanted the best for her daughter - which she knew involved a mature father figure, not someone who got into fights at the drop of a hat. She also didn’t want to set Ryan back in his progress. Theresa used deception like a Slytherin, but she was motivated by her Hufflepuff heart.
Seth: Ravenclaw
The perennial outsider, Seth Cohen was always more comfortable with video games and comic books than he was with water polo players or house parties. When he had friends like Ryan, Marissa, and Summer, however, he didn’t really need to fit in.
Most of the time, his friends understood his pop culture references. He and Ryan even traded comic books back and forth. Seth’s true Ravenclaw moment, however, was developing a comic book story giving all of his friends alter egos based on little known aspects of their personality. His creativity made him a sure fit in Ravenclaw.
Summer: Slytherin
Summer Roberts changed a lot over the course of the series. She went from a partying mean girl to the most loyal friend, from an airhead to a model student, and from a serial dater of the elite to the wife of a social outsider. If any member of The O.C.’s graduating class earned a Most Changed superlative, it was Summer.
All of those changes didn’t change her ambition or her drive. Summer clung to her friends and her boyfriends earnestly, but she always wanted her achievements to be her own. She also had no problem lying to everyone around her to get what she wanted. Summer wasn’t a bad person. She did, after all, prize loyalty and saving the planet above all else. Summer was, however, still a Slytherin.