In tonight’s premiere of Hart of Dixie (CW, 9 ET/PT), Rachel Bilson heads to the swampy South, in one scene facing off with a rather fierce-looking alligator.

And it was no computer-generated alligator, thank you very much.

“He just kind of laid there,” a cool-as-a-cucumber Bilson says via phone while on a break from shooting. “It felt like I could do anything. I was like, ‘What’s up, alligator!’”

A foiled plan to keep Bilson on her toes, executive producer Josh Schwartz says jokingly. “We like to surround Rachel with as many animals and potential life-threatening situations as we can.”

The reptile is only a trifle of the troubles Bilson’s Dr. Zoe Hart gets into as a young, driven resident whose rancid bedside manner blocks her from a prestigious New York medical program. Left with few options, the copper-haired, Louboutin-heeled doctor heads to Bluebell, Ala., to begin a prescribed mix of medical procedures (fun ones, Schwartz says — “we’re not doing ER”), love triangles and battles with an icy Southern belle (Jamie King).

It’s a big, headlining return to television for Bilson, 30, who rose to fame as wisecracking Summer Roberts in teen drama The OC (led by Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, who also helm Gossip Girl). Hart of Dixie also reunites Bilson with creator Leila Gerstein, a writer from The OC.

“It’s like a family,” says Bilson, whose best friend married Schwartz in 2008. In turn, Schwartz calls Bilson an anti-diva. Plus, “I felt like TV audiences were missing seeing her and we needed to get her back on television,” he says.

“It just feels really great to work again,” says Bilson, whose four years since The OC wrapped have been filled with travel, movies like 2008′s Jumper and a continual presence in fashion. “It’s really nice to go back to television. And I am playing a grown-up, and my age and someone with a great career and very smart character.”

But leading a series means long days for the petite actress, a homebody who heads to bed by 9:30 p.m.

“It’s definitely cram time,” she says of her medical-jargon-heavy script load. “You have to put your memorizing skills to the test.” Shot in L.A., Dixie allows Bilson to stay close to family, friends and on-again boyfriend Hayden Christensen, 30. She says her relationship is “not a secret — I just don’t talk about it.”

But she acknowledges that love has changed as she has gotten older. “If you’re in a relationship for a long time and you grow together, I think that’s the goal. So it’s definitely at a different level, and I think that’s how love should be, and it should always grow.”

Also growing: her résumé. Bilson will hit theaters in two upcoming comedies, Life Happens with Krysten Ritter and The To Do List with Bill Hader.

But right now, it’s about mastering the scalpel.

“My best friend’s actually pregnant right now, so I’m like, ‘Don’t expect me to be pulling anything out,’” Bilson says with a laugh, referring to a delivery scene from Dixie’s pilot. “I mean, I definitely know how to suture a little bit, so I feel like if someone had a cut I’d be like, ‘Hey, let me just stitch that up for you.’ But I wouldn’t trust me.”

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