Trailers for Off Campus emphasized that the show would be covering the events of The Deal, the first book in Elle Kennedy’s wildly popular series about the romantic lives of college hockey players. Little did fans know, they’d be seeing a few more books’ worth in the TV adaptation — and another romance from the series along with it.
Off Campus Season 1 mainly adapts The Deal, which centers on the relationship between songwriter Hannah Wells (Ella Bright) and hockey star Garrett Graham (Belmont Cameli). However, they aren’t the only lovebirds in the spotlight. Season 1 also loops in elements from Off Campus‘s third book, The Score, like the romance between Hannah’s roommate Allie Hayes (Mika Abdalla) and womanizing hockey player Dean Di Laurentis (Stephen Kalyn).
If Off Campus was taking Bridgerton‘s one book per season approach, viewers could expect Dean and Allie’s story to come in Season 3. Their hookup in Season 1, then, feels like a surprise hockey stick to the face. (But if a hockey stick to the face could give you butterflies.) What does their relationship look like now that it’s happening so early on, and how does a character from spinoff book series Briar U fit into their love story?
Off Campus starts Dean and Allie’s romance from The Score early on.
Dean and Allie become a major pairing toward the end of Off Campus Season 1. Tension bubbles between the pair whenever they cross paths throughout the first half of the season — especially when they engage in a sultry dance to the Jennifer Lopez and Pitbull banger “On the Floor.” During these encounters, though, Allie is still in a relationship with her unadventurous boyfriend Sean (Riley Davis), and Dean is still Briar U’s number one playboy.
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All that changes at the end of episode 5, which reveals that after Allie broke up with Sean, she and Dean began hooking up in secret. Episode 6 expands further on that reveal, flashing back to the start of their relationship, which they both claim is casual and not actually a relationship, but come on guys, let’s be real.
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In the books, Allie and Dean’s relationship doesn’t start until book three, The Score. Could that mean they’ll be the main focus of Off Campus Season 2?
Probably not. Off Campus will likely focus on book two, titled The Mistake, in Season 2. It has already cast John Logan’s (Antonio Cipriani) love interest Grace Ivers (India Fowler), suggesting they’re gearing up to center that couple. Perhaps the second half of Allie and Dean’s story will play out in Season 2, or perhaps they’ll be a consistent subplot before taking center ice in Season 3. After all, Bridgerton pulled something similar with Francesca’s storyline, building up her relationships in Seasons 3 and 4 before making her the lead in Season 5. That means Allie and Dean fans may be in for a slower burn.
Briar U’s Hunter Davenport is poised to cause chaos for Allie and Dean.
Off Campus Season 1 isn’t just pulling from the Off-Campus book series. It’s also jumping into spinoff Briar U thanks to the inclusion of Hunter Davenport (Charlie Evans).
Hunter first appears in Off-Campus’ The Mistake, but he doesn’t become a romantic lead in his own right until Briar U’s third book, The Play. Between those books, he becomes Dean’s hockey mentee and also develops a crush on Dean’s sister, Summer. However, based on Hunter’s introduction in Off Campus, it seems like that crush has already come into effect and led to some bad blood between him and Dean.
Toward the end of Off Campus Season 1, the Briar U team realizes they need extra players if they have any hope of finishing their season with a winning record. They want to loop in the talented Hunter Davenport, but there’s just one problem: Dean hates him. Why? We don’t know the specifics yet, but it seems like it has to do with Hunter being classmates with Summer.
Dean quickly gets another reason to hate Hunter. In the final scene of Season 1, Off Campus reveals that Hunter is actually Carter St. James, the stranger Allie kissed at a bar (and later hooked up with) in her efforts to be “single and slutty.” (Yes, Carter St. James is the bonkers name on his fake ID.) That revelation, as well as their charged history, leads Dean to get in a bar fight with Hunter, closing Off Campus Season 1 with a bang — and with a considerable departure from the books. Hunter and Allie are not a thing in the books, meaning that whatever Dean-Hunter-Allie love triangle Off Campus is cooking up is new territory. Even if Hunter and Allie never do hook up again in the show, their past fling may lead to some extra angst between Dean and Allie in the lead-up to their happily ever after, whether it comes in Season 2 or Season 3.
All episodes of Off Campus are now streaming on Prime Video.
