Warning: This article contains spoilers about the first season of The O.C. which UK viewers may wish to avoid. Please scroll down to continue.


More details on the upcoming second season of The O.C. have begun to emerge.

At the end of season one, things were all-change in the county. Ryan decided to move back to Chino to be with the pregnant Theresa, Julie finally got hitched to Caleb (secretly on the verge of bankruptcy), Marissa started to hit the bottle again and an upset Seth sailed off into the sunset on his yacht.

Series creator Josh Schwartz teased reporters with only the barest of details and a few clips from the premiere episode - set to air Thursday, November 4 in the US - at the TV Critics Association press tour Friday.

Schwartz said now that viewers "get what the show is," his goal for the next season would be to dig deeper into the lives of its characters. "We are going to slow down the storytelling some this year, I think," he said. "I think, you know, there won't necessarily have to be a brawl at every black-tie affair this year."

He revealed that Ryan would eventually move back to Chino but refused to be drawn on how. "I think it was never a question of would Ryan come back, but a question of how, and also how his leaving and the summer that has taken place with his absence, with Seth's absence, has sort of ... torn these families apart."

Schwartz was even more tight-lipped on the whereabouts of Seth, only going so far as to reveal that he is "unharmed." Kirsten, meanwhile, will have "reached a breaking point" over the departures of her boys.

Theresa will be back next season, as will Kirsten's sister Hailey for a "brief" stint.

Also back will be the Nana (Linda Lavin), who appeared in one episode last season to inform Sandy that she had cancer. "She was great," said Schwartz. "The Nana really popped for people. And so, therefore, I think it's safe to say the chemo is working."