Why Off Campus Makes A Surprising Departure From The Books

Content warning: This piece mentions sexual assault.

BookTok’s streaming reign continues. Prime Video’s Off Campus is based on Elle Kennedy’s novel series of the same name, with Season 1 specifically adapting the first book, The Deal.

The 2015 book follows Hannah and Garrett, college students at the fictional Briar University, who agree to a mutually beneficial fake-dating scheme: Hannah, a music major, will tutor star hockey player Garrett in hopes that their pretend pairing will stir the envy of her crush, Justin. Of course, it’s not long before their fake relationship reveals some very real chemistry.

Off Campus Season 1 (streaming now) sticks closely to the plot summary and book ending of The Deal, but some details are changed — including a key part of Hannah and Garrett’s third act. Book and show spoilers ahead.

It doesn’t take long before Hannah and Garrett’s fake relationship pays off: Garrett passes an important exam, and Justin asks Hannah out. But Hannah has one more request.

As she explains to Garrett, she was raped in high school. And while she’s worked through that trauma in therapy, she hasn’t been able to orgasm with a partner in the years since. Given her trusting friendship with Garrett, she proposes that they have sex to “reprogram” her body.

Garrett is happy to oblige. But even though Hannah enjoys being with him, she can’t quite get there, so he suggests they masturbate in front of each other as an exercise in vulnerability.

And it’s a successful experiment! After that first encounter, Hannah and Garrett begin having sex and ultimately become a real couple. (Justin who?) However, their new relationship is soon tested. Garrett’s abusive dad, Phil, sees Hannah as a liability. And after Garrett beats up Rob — who’s friends with the person who assaulted Hannah and testified against her in court — Phil forces Hannah to break up with Garrett or else he’ll cut off his son.

Worried for Garrett and his future, Hannah does exactly that. Soon, she learns that Garrett has spread word that no one else should date her. When confronted about this, Garrett says he didn’t buy her breakup in the first place and presses her for the truth. Fortunately, he reveals that he can access a trust fund set aside by his grandparents when he turns 21, allowing him to date Hannah without worrying about his livelihood.

A Key Change

This is one element of the book that looks a little different on screen. On the show, Garrett breaks up with Hannah, worried that he scares her and might be just like his father. As co-showrunner Louisa Levy recently told Bustle, the change was partly rooted in real-world shifts in college athletics over the decade since The Deal was written.

“Since the books came out, there have been new laws in the NCAA about image and likeness, so athletes can earn their own money. A big part of that in the book was Garrett’s financial dependence on his dad,” she explains. “We wanted to be honest and truthful to what college athletes are currently experiencing, so that started to fall apart with that major shift in what happened in the world.”

Levy and the writers were also “really interested” in exploring Garrett’s fears about being like his dad. As she puts it, “That dovetailed so much with that decision that he makes, and so we were curious in the writers' room: What would happen if both of Hannah's and Garrett’s worst days happened on the same day, and how that could cause the worst thing to happen? ”

But in both versions, Hannah and Garrett find their way back together just in time.