Elle Kennedy says her favorite change in the Off Campus TV adaptation so far is making Justin a musician instead of an athlete—and she hopes fans will meet the shifts with an open mind.
When Elle Kennedy sat down on TikTok to talk about the TV show she built, she didn’t go straight for plot points or big surprises. Instead, she pointed to a single character detail that instantly made her smile.
Kennedy—author of the Off Campus book series—took to TikTok on Saturday, May 23, answering a question that asked, “From all of the changes that happened in the TV show, which one was your favorite and why?” Her response: she loved that “Justin is a musician” instead of an athlete.
“I think it makes a lot of sense,” Kennedy said on the platform. She added, “Loved loved loved Allie and Dean’s JLo/maverick dance and them having this wild tension even before their hookup (in the book the hookup happens right off the bat).”
The Off Campus series by Kennedy follows an elite ice hockey team and the women in their lives. Season 1, the author noted, focused on Hannah (Ella Bright) and Garrett (Belmont Cameli). But even with Logan’s (Antonio Cipriano) story next based on the books. she said the adaptation’s order could shift—Dean (Stephen Kalyn) “could come first and then Tucker (Jalen Thomas Brooks) last.”.
Speaking with Us Weekly about onscreen shakeups, Kennedy said she’s optimistic about how viewers will respond. “I would hope that book fans go into it with an open mind. The fandom for this series tends to be positive. They love these characters and they love this world,” she said. Kennedy also connected the feeling to the way the tour energized her: “I just came back from a book tour and literally every stop it was just constant excitement.”.
She’s hopeful viewers will feel that same care in the adaptation. “I do think that they’re going to love it,” Kennedy said. “I hope that they’re going to go into it knowing some things have to change in an adaptation. But they’re going to get the same feeling that they got when they read the book.”
Behind the scenes, Kennedy shared that her involvement wasn’t day-to-day. “I wasn’t involved in the day-to-day process. I wasn’t in the writers’ room, and I didn’t have casting decisions,” she explained. Still, she was able to read scripts as they were written and offer feedback. “I did get to read the scripts as they were being written, and I was able to, like, offer feedback. And sometimes we get on a Zoom with the showrunners because they did appreciate the author’s input.”.
As for the kind of changes that made it to screen. Kennedy said she didn’t come in with “specific” requests. “I wasn’t involved in the day-to-day process. I wasn’t in the writers’ room. and I didn’t have casting decisions. ” she repeated earlier in her explanation. then added how she approached the adaptation overall. “I went into this knowing they’re going to have to change certain things. Every adaptation has that — especially because the book is written in first-person, so you’re getting their thoughts a lot. They have to find different ways to show it,” Kennedy shared.
What she wanted, she said, was the emotional core staying intact. “I just honestly wanted to see the relationship dynamics be captured. … I want to see the relationships. I want to see the characters in whatever situations they’re in.”
In addition to Bright, Cameli, Cipriano, Brooks, and Kalyn, Off Campus introduces characters played by Mika Abdalla and Josh Heuston. Kennedy said she and the creative team were collaborative in one key way: “They would say. ‘What are nonnegotiable scenes or things that you know have to be in there?’ They were collaborative in that sense. But in terms of final decisions, that was completely up to the creative team there.”.
Off Campus is streaming on Prime Video now.
Elle Kennedy Off Campus Prime Video TikTok Stephen Kalyn Jalen Thomas Brooks Ella Bright Belmont Cameli Antonio Cipriano Mika Abdalla Josh Heuston Justin musician