Exclusive Interview
‘Off Campus’: Jalen Thomas Brooks Talks Deleted Tucker Scene, Sabrina Nods & More (VIDEO)
What To Know
- Jalen Thomas Brooks plays John Tucker in Off Campus Season 1.
- Brooks explains how he relates closely to his character’s love of cooking and reveals a deleted “fruit hazing” scene.
- Brooks explains that there are Easter eggs hinting at Tucker’s future romance with Sabrina in Season 1 and more.
John Tucker’s (Jalen Thomas Brooks) most major Off Campus Season 1 moments are food-related in pretty much every way. While his teammate Garrett (Belmont Cameli) falls in love with Hannah (Ella Bright), Tucker is holding down the fort at their shared house, making sure his friends have home-cooked meals. When he isn’t doing that or playing hockey, Tucker’s being “hazed” via fruit by Beau (Khobe Clarke) and Dean (Stephen Kalyn).
At Creation Entertainment‘s Page, Screen, and Everything in Between convention on May 10, Brooks spoke to Swooon about all things Tucker, including how his own cooking skills compare to his character’s, a deleted fruit scene that didn’t make the final cut, and some Sabrina — Tucker’s future love interest — Easter eggs that’ve already been planted.
Readers of Elle Kennedy’s hockey romance series were acquainted with Tucker, the southern gentleman of the group, before he arrived in Prime Video’s TV adaptation. Tucker’s tendency to cook for his teammates was one of the first things Brooks connected with. “I’m very, very confident in the kitchen,” he said. “When I found out he was a cook, I was like, ‘Sign me up.’ I grew up watching MasterChef, Hell’s Kitchen, The Great British Bake Off, all of that.”
During the first weekend the cast spent together during filming, Brooks had the opportunity to put his skills into practice. “We went to Antonio [Cipriano]’s house, and I did a huge potluck for the whole entire cast,” he said. “And I cook cook. It’s not like just throwing things together, like I make brown sugar bourbon ribeye steak, I’ll make sweet potato casserole, mac and cheese, everything. Like, I cook. So, me and Tucker are one in the same.”
When Tucker rushes for Beau’s fraternity, Beau and Dean team up to haze him. Tucker’s job is to protect the “fruit babies” they give him. If something happens to the fruit — i.e., if Beau and Dean manage to steal it from him — it’s replaced by a larger fruit. Tucker ends up cradling a watermelon during the Drunk Shakespeare performance that all of the characters attend in Episode 4. According to Brooks, the show almost took the gag up one more notch.
Prime Video
“There was one that didn’t make it into the show, which was I ended up slow dancing — drunk slow dancing with a pumpkin,” Brooks said when we asked which of the fruits was his favorite. He has a video of himself with the pumpkin on his phone, though. “It was too outlandish, so it didn’t make it, but I’ll post it in the BTS photo dump.”
Though Tucker’s Season 1 journey didn’t feature any romantic love — in Kennedy’s series, Tucker’s The Goal arrives fourth — Brooks confirms that chats have already been had about Sabrina. She has yet to be cast, but you might notice a reference to the character in Season 1. (“If you really pay attention,” Brooks explained.)
“It’s something that everybody knows is on the way down the line,” Brooks said. “That’s one of the most beautiful things about this series, as it keeps going, is that after each season you’re gonna go and watch the previous seasons to realize how many Easter eggs are being dropped. When you watch [season] two and see that there’s Easter eggs in [season] one, and then when we watch [season] three, how there was Easter eggs in [season] two. It’s gonna be all that.”
Brooks is looking forward to filming Tucker and Sabrina’s first meeting, but he’s even more excited about the book moment when Tucker tells Dean that he and Sabrina are expecting a baby. Their unplanned pregnancy is what kicks off Tucker and Sabrina’s romance. The reveal occurs at the end of Dean and Allie’s (Mika Abdalla) book, The Score, which has an overlapping timeline with The Goal.
“When I got to meet Stephen — Steven’s such an incredible actor — I think the scene when [Tucker] tells everybody, and how the emotions get so heightened, especially dealing with the whole found family [dynamic],” Brooks said. “Then the family starting to sprout or whatever, that will be a fun dynamic thing.”
Speaking of Dean, at the beginning of Tucker’s book, he clocks immediately that Dean and Allie are secretly hooking up. We had to ask Brooks if the show Tucker has caught on, too, since some of The Score‘s plot is incorporated into Season 1. “Tucker sees everything,” he teased. “I’m gonna say that Tucker is the all knowing.”
Off Campus, Season 1, Streaming Now, Prime Video
Off Campus, Season 2, TBA, Prime Video
