Summer’s Off Campus Casting Fuels A Season 2 Timeline Theory

The Off Campus family is expanding. On Aug. 13, the show announced the casting of Shay Rudolph as Dean’s little sister, Summer, with a behind-the-scenes video that perfectly captured their playful sibling dynamic — big-brother eye roll and all.

In Elle Kennedy’s The Score (which Season 2 is based on), readers get to know Summer when she visits Dean while she’s on probation from Brown University. She’s fun-loving and, in Dean’s words, “gives me a run for my money when it comes to grabbing life by the horns and seizing the day.” That is to say... she’s an exciting character! And she gets her own love story in Kennedy’s Briar U series opener, The Chase.

But first, back to the show. In Season 1, it’s implied that part of Dean’s hatred of Hunter Davenport might have something to do with Summer — as they went to high school together. According to one astute fan theory, that beef could be addressed early in Season 2 (which is currently filming in Vancouver).

As one Redditor pointed out, the sweater Kalyn is wearing in the new announcement — which Rudolph wears a double of, as his “copy paste” little sister — was previously seen in early set photos. This could suggest that Summer shows up soon into the season, they wrote.

Another commenter supported the theory, writing: “I definitely think she turns up early so that there’s resolution between Dean and Hunter quickly. It could be that Dean didn’t have the full picture of what happened between them? Something along those lines.”

The fans also noted that by exploring Dean and Allie’s conflict over Hunter early in the season, the show could avoid a third-act breakup for the pair. Readers know that in The Score, an unexpected event rocks the couple’s relationship in a major way.

As for Summer’s future in the world of Off Campus? (Mild spoilers ahead.) While visiting her brother in The Score, Summer develops an interest in Colin Fitzgerald, aka Fitzy, one of her brother’s hockey teammates. They actually become housemates when she transfers to Briar University after being kicked out of Brown, setting the scene for some sizzling tension.

It’s exciting to keep an eye out for details about the broader Off Campus lore. As co-showrunner Louisa Levy told Bustle earlier this summer, “Because these books feel like such a world and community, you’ve got all of these minor characters that become major characters. We don’t have the ability to include all of them from jump, but this is our way of showing that characters might show up in ways that you might not expect.” So... Fitzy casting when?!