While some book-to-screen adaptations play it safe, treating the original source material as an unchangeable road map, Prime Video’s “Off Campus” is having a little more fun with the overall universe of characters from Elle Kennedy’s series of hockey romance novels — and it’s causing even the savviest of book readers to drop their jaws at least once.
One of the biggest changes comes in the form of “Carter St. James V” (played by Charlie Evans of Hulu’s “Paradise”), a character who has a one-night stand with Allie (Mike Abdalla) during her rocky road to romance with hockey player Dean (Stephen Kalyn). Of course, the characters’ steamy hookup in Episode 7 is nothing compared to the bombshell that comes in the season finale: “Carter” is merely the name on this character’s fake ID. He’s really Hunter Davenport, a talented hockey player who just so happens to have a heated rivalry with — you guessed it — Dean.
Co-showrunner Louisa Levy acknowledges in an interview with Deadline that this is “obviously a very big twist in the season,” explaining that Hunter isn’t prominently featured in “The Deal,” Kennedy’s book upon which the first season of “Off Campus” is based. In fact, Hunter doesn’t get a major storyline until “The Play,” an entry in Kennedy’s spin-off book series “Briar U,” making this a twist that no one could have seen coming.
“We mostly just wanted to tap on the fact that we have more than just four books,” Levy says of the significant change. “And we want to play with a whole universe of Elle Kennedy characters, and we intend to. And they might show up in ways that you don’t expect, especially ones that have more story down the line.”
Charlie Evans didn’t know he was auditioning for Hunter Davenport in Off Campus
The team behind “Off Campus” went to great lengths to keep the Hunter Davenport twist under wraps, including auditioning for the character under his fake name. Actor Charlie Evans apparently had no idea he was trying out for such an important role.
“I went in for Carter St. James V, and I knew he was wealthy,” Evans tells Swooon. “I knew a little bit [that] he played for a rival team, things like that, just vague details. But no, I only found out after I got the job who he actually was. … I went in for just this random guy, and he turned out to be who he was, which was very cool.”
As for how this Hunter–Allie hookup could impact future storylines from the books, including Hunter eventually forming a strong bond with Dean, Evans chooses to take the “anything’s possible” approach.
“I think the way that we’re doing this show, [co-showrunner Louisa Levy] has very cleverly set up these characters to be malleable and to react to their environments,” Evans says. “There’s a lot of topical, beautiful story shifts that she’s made that translate incredibly well on-screen, and that she’s going to continue to make. I mean, she really knows everything about the future of this story and how she wants it to be told, and I’m so grateful to be a part of that because it is comprehensive. I’ve been in those rooms and seen the boards, and they have the books out, and they’re pulling pages, and it’s really impressive.”
Book readers, were you genuinely surprised by the reveal that “Carter” is actually Hunter? And which other characters from Kennedy’s world are you excited to see in the second season of “Off Campus”? Grade Season 1 in our poll below, then drop a comment with your hopes for the show’s future.
