After the huge success of The Summer I Turned Pretty, My Fault and Heated Rivalry, there’s no surprise that streamers are turning to beloved book series to inspire sexy new TV shows. After all, the fans are already there just waiting to see how the pages translate into an on-screen drama.
But the latest adaptation is Off Campus, a new, spicy series on Prime Video based on Elle Kennedy’s New York Times bestselling series.
It follows a college student named Hannah (Ella Bright) who engages in a fake relationship with the school’s star hockey player Garrett (Belmont Cameli) to make her crush, Justin (Josh Heuston) jealous. In a twist as old as time, the plan works but as sparks eventually start to fly between Hannah and Garrett, Hannah must work out which suitor really is the one for her.
While the first season of Off Campus seems to be following the first book of the series, The Deal, there are some noticeable changes.
What has Prime Video’s Off Campus changed from the books?
Justin’s character
One of the most noticeable changes is the character of Justin. In The Deal, he’s depicted as a popular soccer player with deep brown eyes and thick dark hair. Instantly, Hannah is charmed by his good looks and his charisma.
While Aussie star Josh Heuston fits the physical description, in the television series Justin isn’t a soccer player — he’s the brooding frontman of a band.
According to Josh, the change in character makes total sense.
“I would’ve played him as a football player but I think it added another layer to the difference between Garrett and Justin,” Josh tells TV WEEK.
“Hannah is in love with Justin initially on face value because of his musical ability and she’s had a bad experience with athletes before. So there’s a couple of things going on which highlights the fact, in Garrett’s mind, that he can’t ever be similar to her initial crush.”
Something Josh was careful about was making sure his character didn’t come across as just another alternative bad boy.
“I was protective of Justin falling into the bad boy archetype on campus,” Josh explains to TV WEEK. “He’s a dick in a lot of ways, but I wanted him to feel like a real person so and have all the reasons why someone would want to date him.”
In the first episode of the series, we see Justin singing a rock cover of Ariana Grande’s “Into You” with his band. While it sounds pretty damn good, Josh admits that stepping into the role of a musician was something he’d never done before.
“I can’t take credit for picking the song,” Josh laughs.
“But it’s me singing everything and playing guitar. I learned how to do all of that for this show.”
What about Allie?
From the moment the Off Campus trailer came out, eagle-eyed fans went nuts when they saw Dean (Stephen Kalyn), another hockey player, make eyes at Allie (Mika Abdalla), Hannah’s best friend.
While this split-second moment might not mean anything to general viewers, for the book lovers, it’s hinting at the next direction of the series. You see, it’s not until the third book of the series that Allie and Dean’s love story is explored. With the snapshot in the trailer, fans are already wondering whether Allie and Dean’s story arc might be fast tracked to season one or season two.
According to Mika Abdalla, who plays Allie, her character has a lot to give in season one — however she’s not giving anything away.
“I think Allie is kind of going through her own internal journey,” Mika explains.
“You know, Hannah is having her situation with Garrett and Allies being the supportive friend and she’s also dealing with demons of her own. So I think Allie’s on this journey of like self discovery and questioning what she thinks she wants from life.”
What do fans of the Off Campus series think about the TV adaptation?
For fans of the series — like avid romance reader Laura McGuane — having Off Campus made into an exciting yet nerve racking prospect.
“Off Campus has such a cult following. There is a large community of people who are on the edge of their seats to experience these characters on screen and I couldn’t be more excited,” Laura exclaims.
Admittedly, she’s nervous to see how it all plays out on screen.
“I have strong opinions about my favourite characters and seeing them depicted on screen can sometimes be disappointing compared to pedestal you have built them up in your head. However, I will always watch the book to screen adaption as I like to compare them to my own imaginings,” the romance fan admits.
While some fans feel pretty strongly that adaptations have to follow the books exactly for them to work, Laura thinks that having any beloved series be made into a TV series is only ever a good thing.
“I am the type of reader who is never satisfied with the epilogue, I always want more, more, more of these characters as I genuinely fall in love with them and don’t want to let them go,” she shares.
“Having a book to screen adaption means I get to experience their journey again just in a different way.”
You can watch Off Campus on Prime Video from May 13.
