Off Campus star Mika Abdalla revealed how different season 2 will be after some surprising onscreen changes.
“It’s a lot more emotionally turbulent, so you lose some of that fun, best-friend energy,” Abdalla, 26, told Vogue India in a feature published on Tuesday, September 1.
She continued: “I check in to ensure I’m hitting important character beats, but still incorporating the parts of Allie that people love.”
Based on the Off-Campus book series by Elle Kennedy, the hit Prime Video show follows an elite ice hockey team and the women in their lives. Season 1, which premiered in May, was centered around Hannah (Ella Bright) and Garrett’s (Belmont Cameli) love story.
Following the order of Kennedy’s books, Logan’s (Antonio Cipriano) story was expected to be next, before Dean (Stephen Kalyn) and Tucker (Jalen Thomas Brooks) got their turns. News broke, however, that Dean and Allie (Abdalla) would be leading season 2 in a shakeup.
“[It’s the] same as season 1 [where] season 1 didn’t exactly follow the books,” Abdalla shared on a June episode of the “Hey Jonas!” podcast. “There’s some new fun stuff and some fun new little things that we’re adding in.”
Abdalla previously explained how the show wanted to “stay true to a lot” of Allie and Dean’s love story.
“Even though we do tease Dean and Allie a lot earlier than people expect, you are still left wanting a lot more,” she exclusively told Us in May. “And that’s something I’m really excited about. You just want to see more.”
She added: “Allie and Hannah’s story lines are so connected to one another that it just made a lot of sense to touch on. All the books, they build off of each other and they’re all connected. It didn’t really make sense to not include certain elements from the other books in this season.”
Other changes in season 2 include Josh Heuston‘s exit as Justin.
“[He is] not [in] next season, but I love Josh and I would not write him off if I can find a way to bring Justin back at some point,” creator Louisa Levy told TV Guide earlier this year. “We never got a chance to meet Stella, who is the person he ends up with in the book. So maybe we’ll find a way to fold him into a future season.”
Levy noted that it wasn’t always the plan for Justin to be absent. “We don’t have him [available] next season, but never say never,” she added.
With Justin gone, Levy hinted how season 2 is going to adapt.
“There’s going to be less live songs. Because we don’t have all of Hannah’s songwriting journey to play into,” she said during Obsessed Fest in June. “We don’t have Josh and After Hours this season, so we don’t have those bands. But we still have a lot of music in other ways. We will still have some light music in the show.”
Levy concluded: “I still think the heart of the show lives in those needle drops and those songs that underscore a moment — as well as the actual score.”
Off Campus is currently streaming on Prime Video.
