'Off Campus' stars Ella Bright, Belmont Cameli, and others spill the tea on bringing the viral hockey romance books to screens

Prime Video's upcoming series Off Campus already has romance fans counting down the days. Based on the wildly popular books by Elle Kennedy, the show dives into college life, complicated relationships, hockey culture, friendship, and the emotional chaos of growing up. At the centre of it all is Hannah, a talented but reserved songwriter navigating love, confidence, and self-discovery in a campus world full of athletes, dorm drama, and messy feelings.

Speaking to Cosmopolitan India, the cast opened up about stepping into characters that already have a massive online fandom, building chemistry on set, and why hockey boys continue to rule romance culture.

For Ella Bright, who plays Hannah, one of the most personal parts of the role was portraying Hannah’s growing confidence. “What was super reflective of Hannah’s growth as a character is also her confidence in her singing and songwriting ability,” she shares. “It’s definitely something that I had to learn and it was a really fun challenge for me taking on this role. Hannah keeps getting more confident with singing in front of people and learning all these instruments and doing all the things, and that was definitely what I was doing behind the scenes for training as well."

Belmont Cameli, who plays hockey star Garrett Graham, revealed that the role pushed him physically in a completely new way. “This role was definitely very physically demanding, and learning how to play hockey has been really challenging but very fun too,” he says. “I am a fitness guy; I played sports my whole life, so it’s always nice to be able to train for work," he adds.

Since the Off Campus books already have an intensely loyal fanbase, the cast also admitted there was pressure around getting the characters right. Still, they wanted to make the roles feel authentic to them. “We got such a lucky opportunity to kind of make it our own, as well as pulling from the beloved parts in the books that everyone has already fallen in love with,” Bright explains.

Cameli adds to it, "These characters are so iconic. People love these books. Garrett Graham’s an icon, and I absolutely appreciate that. But when I was building the character, I approached it like anything else. I approached it like an actor and built out the character with the incredible creative team that we have."

And yes, the hockey romance obsession came up during the conversation, too. When asked why the hockey boy archetype works so well on screen, Cameli had a very clear answer. “Hockey boys are kind of irreverent. They are mysterious. They are usually quieter versions of the professional athletes that you see associated with other major sports, and that’s hot!" he laughs. “There’s something about a hockey boy that you just can’t seem to crack.”

Meanwhile, Mika Abdalla, who plays Allie, said the show’s female friendships are just as important as the romance. “I think it’s a very sisterly dynamic,” she shared about Allie and Hannah’s bond. “We both kind of ground each other.”

Josh Heuston, whose character Justin is Hannah's initial love interest, described working with Bright as effortless. “If you ever meet Ella, she is a little ray of sunshine,” he gushes. “Everyone just falls in love with her the second you meet her, so it was very easy.”

The cast also spoke about how close everyone became while filming in Vancouver, with many living just blocks apart. According to Abdalla, it genuinely started to feel like a real college experience, off the set, too. "You’d be walking around going to get groceries and run into people on the street. Then it would become, let’s go grab lunch or do whatever. All of that felt very college-y!"

If the early fan excitement and the love for the books are anything to go by, Off Campus might just become the next big comfort-watch romance series for Gen Z. And let's not forget it is a hockey romance, and we all know what happened the last time a hockey romance hit the screens!

Lead image: Getty Images

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