Book To Screen
New ‘Off Campus’ Photos Reveal Major Book Changes for Dean & More in TV Series
The Briar University hockey team roster has given Off Campus fans more questions than answers about the upcoming The Deal adaptation.
On September 25, Elle Kennedy, who is the author of the Off Campus book series, as well as a producer of the Prime Video adaptation, posted a series of photos on the Off Campus set. Along with a photo of Kennedy with Garrett Graham, actor Belmont Cameli, Kennedy posted a photo of the “Briar Hawks Team Roster,” which led fans to question everything they thought they knew about the Briar University hockey team.
While Garrett, Tucker (Jalen Thomas Brooks), Dean (Stephen Kalyn), and Logan (Antonio Cipriano) all make an appearance on the lineup, fans were quick to note that other beloved Briar University hockey players introduced in the book series, like Fitzy and Hunter, did not make the cut. But that’s not it. This glimpse at the team roster also reveals that most of the core four Off Campus male leads have different grade levels than they do in the book. While Tucker is a sophomore, Dean Di Laurentis is a senior!
Scroll to find out everything we know about the Briar University hockey team, including who fans can expect to see on the ice, what the players’ ages mean for the plot, and more!
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Will Briar U MMCs Fitzy, Jake, Hunter, and Conor be in the Off Campus TV show?
Most of the male leads from Kennedy’s Off Campus follow-up series, Briar U, make appearances, or are at least mentioned in the Off Campus book series. For that reason, readers had expected to see fan-favorite characters like Colin Fitzgerald and Hunter Davenport, who are the MMCs of The Chase and The Play, on the team roster for the TV adaptation. However, based on Kennedy’s most recent Instagram post, it appears that none of them will make an appearance in the show — at least for now. While this leaves the door open for a Briar U adaptation outside of Off Campus, it’s unlikely that we’ll be seeing any of the team’s younger players move from book to screen this time around.
Elle Kennedy / Instagram
How will Dean being a senior impact the plot of Off Campus?
Based on the team roster, it appears that The Score‘s male main character, Dean Di Laurentis, will be a college senior during the first season of Off Campus, even though he is only a junior at the beginning of the book series. Naturally, this grade level difference caught eagle-eyed fans of the book off guard because, if the show follows the same timeline of the book series, Dean will have likely graduated from Briar by the time both the plot of The Deal and The Mistake come to an end. While his story originally took place third, about a year into the series, fans already know they can expect some changes heading into the adaptation.
Here are our theories: 1) Dean will be a super senior (à la Jeremiah Fisher in The Summer I Turned Pretty), sticking back at Briar to switch out of his pre-law path. This would not be too different from the book’s original plot. 2) Dean and Allie (Mika Abdalla) will be the main characters of Off Campus Season 2. While this would displace Logan’s storyline, it would make sense to put two actors who have already been cast in the series at the forefront of the second season.
How will Tucker being a sophomore impact the plot of Off Campus?
Honestly, Tucker’s character being a sophomore instead of a junior, like he is in the first book, is definitely not as major as Dean’s grade level switch-up. Seeing as fans already expect Tucker’s story to happen last (Hello, Off Campus Season 4!), dropping the character a grade level to match the speed of the plot will likely have very little impact on the series. After all, seeing as the Off Campus guys serve as mentors both on and off the ice to their younger Briar U counterparts. Without characters like Fitzy and Hunter in the mix, they’ll need a younger player whom they can show the ropes.
Elle Kennedy / Instagram
Will Coach Jensen be in the Off Campus TV show?
In Kennedy’s post, she also revealed that Off Campus goalie Kenny Simms will make an appearance in the show. However, Coach Jensen may have been replaced. On the sports announcer fact sheet, the coach is listed as D. Hermansen, not C. Jensen, as readers would expect. While the name of the character does not matter in the grand scheme of things, we believe this may be an indication that the Hawks’ coach will be a little different than the coach we see in the books.
What do you think about these book-to-screen changes? Comment below!
Off Campus, Season 1, TBA, Prime Video
