Prime Video’s Off Campus is a sultry yet sweet watch — but how does the TV adaptation compare to the original book?
Based on the Off Campus book series by Kennedy, the show, which premiered Wednesday, May 13, follows an elite ice hockey team and the women in their lives as they “grapple with love, heartbreak and self-discovery — forging deep friendships and enduring bonds while navigating the complexities that come with transitioning into adulthood,” read the official synopsis.
Hannah (Ella Bright) and Garrett’s (Belmont Cameli) love story took center stage in season 1 — with several key moments from their book, The Deal, swapped for an updated version.
“We have all eight scripts written,” creator Louisa Levy exclusively told Us Weekly before the show premiered. “We’ve given [two] to the actors but the writers’ room is done.”
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Levy noted that filming would be happening soon.
“We’re getting ready to dive into production and we’ve got a season mapped out,” she noted. “We know what we want to do — and we’ve got some fun things in store. I’ll just say … book fans are going to be really excited.”
While the scripts have been completed, Levy didn’t rule out changes, adding, “They’re written. It doesn’t mean that we can’t make adjustments. But we do have the plan, we have the map [for the season]. But I’m pretty sure that fans are going to be really excited about it.”
Keep scrolling for the main differences that took place on the show compared to Kennedy’s version:
Hannah Kissing Dean Instead of Logan
In Kennedy’s version, Hannah kissed Garrett’s teammate Logan instead of Dean.
“I know that some people are going to be a little upset about that one change. But honestly, for the story that we’re trying to tell and where Logan has that kind of spark with Hannah, it’s only going to feed the story a little bit more for his attraction toward her,” Anthony Cipriano shared with Us Weekly. “How that moment meant nothing to Hannah but everything to Logan.”
Cipriano hoped the vision came along.
“He appreciates her, and it’s all innocent and all love. I also think the addition of Jules and making him a middle child is really interesting,” he added. “It changes the dynamic completely. And I’m a middle child myself, so I feel like I knew exactly who this guy was.”
Allie and Dean’s Entire Story Line
Season 2 set up Allie (Mika Abdalla) and Dean (Stephen Kalyn) as the next possible leads despite them being featured in the third book in the series. That meant including many scenes from their book in the series, which made fans question what content would be used when Allie and Dean officially became the leads.
“Since the cast was announced, I feel like there’s been theories circulating online, and it’s been really interesting to read it,” Abdalla told Us about Allie and Dean’s bond. “I for sure think people are going to be at least surprised.”
She continued: “Even though we do tease Dean and Ali a lot earlier than people expect, you are still left wanting a lot more. That’s something I’m really excited about too because I get it if I was on the other side of it.”
Hannah and Garrett’s Split
While Garrett (briefly) ended his romance with Hannah on the show, the book actually had his dad to blame. Bright told Us that swapping it to have the focus on Hannah and Garrett was due to the “characters themselves.”
“That’s what makes it such a poignant and upsetting moment. It is so heartbreaking because they’re both having such awful days at the exact same time. So that miscommunication is, of course, going to end in that way,” she noted. “Because they are losing the ability to connect and hear each other out. They’re dealing with their own things at the same time. So it is really difficult, and it makes it definitely a saddest scene.”
Cameli, meanwhile, referred to it as “very upsetting and a heartbreaking” fictional split, adding, “We wanted it to come from the characters.”
Levy elaborated on the vision for the scene.
“A big reason why we made that change was because 11 years ago — when the books were published — college athletes couldn’t make money off of their image like this and now they can,” she explained. “The financial leverage that Phil has doesn’t really work anymore in today’s climate. We knew that we had to make a change there.”
She continued: “But then on top of that, we also really wanted it to come from Garrett’s inner fear that he might become his father. So even though Phil is not directly responsible, he’s still kind of tangentially responsible. Because that is Garrett’s deepest fear is becoming his dad. You don’t want to do that and make Hannah go through that.”
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No ‘Hands Off’ Ban
The most significant change was the way Garrett instituted a campus-wide hands-off law after his split from Hannah. On the page, Garrett’s decision frustrated Hannah — but it also brought them back together.
The show did things a little differently with Hannah catching wind of Garrett threatening other guys so they would stay away from her. Hannah confronted Garrett — and that’s when they realized some confusion between his team members led to a misunderstanding.
“We were trying to find a way to keep this fan-favorite moment from the book, while not making it like a problem for Garrett,” Levy told Today. “So we came up with a solution that still honors the original intent but makes Garrett not completely terrible for doing this after breaking up with Hannah.”
Hunter Davenport’s Introduction
To push Allie and Dean’s story along, the show introduced Hunter Davenport despite him not being linked to Allie on the page.
“It was really important to have that scene to slow down what was happening between Allie and Dean. I want to see them kind of go. I want to see them really separate,” Abdalla hinted. “Allie just got out of a long-term relationship. She can’t do what she always does. … I really like the edition of the Hunter story line drama. They need to grow as individuals. And so I really want to see Ali and Dean grow separately in season 2.”
