'Off Campus' makes these big changes from book to Prime Video's hot new series

Spoiler alert: This article contains spoilers for the book and series adaptation of “Off Campus” on Prime Video.

Steamy hockey college romance "Off Campus" scored the No. 2 spot on Prime Video’s top shows quickly after its May 13 release.

Based on Elle Kennedy’s bestselling “Off-Campus” series, the show with a 95% rating on Rotten Tomatoes follows Briar University hockey captain Garrett Graham (Belmont Cameli) and aspiring musician Hannah Wells (Ella Bright). Garrett needs Hannah's help as a tutor and Hannah needs a fake suitor to catch the attention of her crush, Justin Kohl (Josh Heuston).

There are four main books in Kennedy's series: “The Deal,” about Garrett and Hannah; “The Mistake,” about John Logan and Grace Ivers; “The Score,” about Dean Di Laurentis and Allie Hayes; “The Goal,” about John Tucker and Sabrina James. Each focuses on the love stories of specific couples, but while the show doesn’t follow the books’ format rigidly, all the beloved characters are present.

The show gives the 11-year-old book a modern polish but keeps the slow-burn journey of lust and love.

Here’s a look at the biggest difference between “The Deal” book and “Off Campus” Season 1:

Justin is a musician with an accent

In the book and series, Hannah’s crush on Justin Kohl is the driving force for her early interactions with Garrett. She’s hopelessly tongue tied, over-eager and lost when it comes to making a connection with Justin, and Garrett offers to help her get the popular guy’s attention in exchange for tutoring him.

But Justin is very different from book to screen. In the book, he’s a football player who seems more sensitive and mysterious than the usual rowdy sports crowd. In the series, he’s a music student and lead singer in a band that plays at Malone’s, where Hannah works. Oh, and he’s British now.  

Garrett is less problematic

In the book, after Hannah breaks up with him, Garrett invokes a campus-wide “hands-off rule,” tasking his minions to spread the word that no man is allowed to pursue her. When Hannah finds out, she barges into the locker room to confront Garrett and is met with full-frontal nudity of the hockey players (graphically depicted in the book and series) and a smug Garrett.

“You invoked a campus-wide hands-off law? Are you kidding me?” she says. Garrett is “not at all remorseful” telling her, “Of course I did.” He tells her it wasn’t for his benefit, but to save her from herself because he knows she’s in love with him. This gave many readers the ick, even when it was the catalyst to their happily ever after.  

In the show, the hands-off rule is invoked, but not by Garrett. Team rookies assume that’s what he’d want and mistakenly spread the word on their own. When he finds out, he's annoyed and agrees it would be “wildly problematic” if he had done it.

Overall, the series toned down Garrett’s possessive, over-protective tendencies while keeping true to his Big Man on Campus/hockey dynasty character.

Dean and Allie get a new twist

Dean, one of Garrett’s best friends and promiscuous hockey hotshot, and Allie, Hannah’s best friend and theater student, are side characters in “Off-Campus” Book 1 and don’t get their full story told until Book 3, “The Score.” In the series, they have a much larger role. Their attraction happens from Ep. 1, and a huge chunk of Ep. 6 is dedicated to telling their origin story.

The he-falls-first trope stays true in the series, and while the circumstances and timeline have been tweaked (including how they met and parts of the Thanksgiving trip to New York), many of the endearing details make it into the show, including the Allie-Cat and Maverick nicknames.

The biggest twist is the introduction of Carter St. James, later revealed to be a hockey player and Dean’s rival, Hunter Davenport (Charlie Evans). Allie (Mika Abdalla) is afraid of falling for Dean (Stephen Kalyn) after getting out of a serious, long-term relationship with her boyfriend Sean (Riley Davis). She tells Dean to hook up with someone else, but while he finds his feelings for her prevent him doing so, she falls into bed with a mysterious stranger who turns out to be Hunter. The series ends with Dean and Hunter – the Briar hockey new starting line – in a fistfight, paving the way for Season 2 (which has already been green-lit).

In the books, Hunter has his own book but it’s the third installment in the “Briar U” spin-off series. And he and Allie never hook up.

Jules is a completely different person

In the book, Jules is a male football player and a side character in “The Chase” and “The Risk.” He's described as being cute, with chin-length dark hair, dimples and a diamond stud in one ear.

In the show, Jules (Julia Sarah Stone) is the plucky non-binary sibling of John Logan (Antonio Cipriano). They play a much bigger role, as both facilitator and disrupter in various storylines. Jules is the gatekeeper of Briar gossip, running the Fifth Line social media account. Garrett and Hannah have to convince them they’re really dating before the rest of the school will believe it. Jules helps Logan manage his crush on Hannah and pushes him to be supportive of their mother who’s in rehab for the fifth time.  

Phil Graham is evil, but not as bad as the books

Garrett’s father, Phil, is an NHL great who’s controlling and abusive in both book and show. But the TV Phil (Steve Howey) is more complex, his edges softened with almost tender moments with his son. For example, when Garrett tells his dad he’s not going into the NHL draft a year early, he’s supportive, telling Garrett he’s better equipped to handle the pressure than he was at 18.

But while Phil doesn’t manipulate Hannah into breaking up with Garrett like he did in the books, he is still an abusive man. There are flashbacks to him hurting Garrett’s mom before she died. He continued that pattern with his fiancé, Cindy, whose bruises tip Garrett off to the fact when he visits for Thanksgiving. Garrett’s struggles with violence and his fear of becoming like his father is why he breaks up with Hannah in the show.