Heated Rivalry may have found some serious competition — and this new contender comes with hockey roots and plenty of steam of its own.
Based on bestselling novels by Toronto-born author Elle Kennedy, Off Campus follows reserved music student Hannah Wells (Ella Bright) and star college hockey player Garrett Graham (Belmont Cameli). What begins as a tutoring arrangement soon develops into a romance set against the backdrop of campus tensions, hockey culture and locker-room drama.
The series has climbed to the No. 1 spot on Amazon Prime Video in Canada and features strong Canadian connections both in front of and behind the camera, along with filming locations and music from across the country.
Kennedy, who grew up in the Toronto suburbs, always knew she wanted to become a writer and began pursuing that goal as a teenager. A graduate of York University with a BA in English, she has since written nearly 50 contemporary novels. She also serves as a producer on the TV adaptation.
Although the story takes place at the fictional Briar University in Boston, most of the series was filmed in Vancouver. University of British Columbia doubles as Briar University, with locations such as the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre and the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre appearing throughout the show. UBC’s Sigma Phi Delta fraternity house was also used as the hockey players’ fraternity.
The Vancouver pub and music venue The Heatley serves as Malone’s, the college bar where Hannah and her roommate Allie Hayes (Mika Abdalla) work and spend time with Dean Di Laurentis (Stephen Kalyn) and the hockey team.
Meanwhile, Dean’s upscale New York apartment featured during the Thanksgiving episode is actually a suite inside The Douglas Autograph Collection Hotel.
The show has also given a major boost to Toronto rock band The Beaches. Their 2023 single Edge of the Earth appears in the second episode and has reportedly seen an 888 per cent increase in streaming since the show premiered.
The band receives two mentions during the episode. In one scene, Hannah and Garrett end up sharing a room, and she asks him if he has ever heard of The Beaches. She tells him, “their Coachella set will change your life,” before the two fall asleep watching the performance on her laptop.
Later, Garrett browses the band’s Spotify page, selects Edge of the Earth, and the song plays during the closing scene and end credits.
The band has embraced the attention online, posting reaction clips on social media and uploading footage of their real Coachella performance of Edge of the Earth to YouTube under the title “for Hannah and Garrett from Off Campus.” In a recent post on X, they also shared that they screened an Off Campus clip during one of their concerts.
Several Canadian actors appear throughout the series. Stephen Kalyn, originally from Markham, Ont., plays charismatic defenceman Dean Di Laurentis, Garrett’s best friend and fellow hockey player. Vancouver-born Dylan Kingwell portrays teammate Joe Rogers, while Calgary actor Khobe Clarke appears as quarterback Beau Maxwell.
Vancouver actor Julia Sarah Stone plays Jules Logan, a new character created specifically for the show by showrunner Louisa Levy. Jules is the vibrant nonbinary younger sibling of hockey player John Logan, played by Antonio Cipriano.
Other Canadian cast members include Karis Cameron from Tofino, B.C., who appears as Kendall; Vancouver actor Chelah Horsdal as Hannah’s mother Carrie; Toronto-born Jennifer Spence as Professor Tolbert; and Canadian actor-producer Chad Willett as Briar Hawks coach Jensen.
Canadians also play key roles behind the scenes. Fredericton native Leanna Billings serves as an executive producer. Originally trained as a neuropsychologist, she launched Billings Productions during the pandemic and became interested in adapting the novels after discovering them on BookTok.
Montreal writer and producer Ian Deitchman, known for his work on Suits, is a co-executive producer and writer on the series.
Canadian director Dawn Wilkinson was also part of the all-female directing team behind the show’s eight-episode first season. Wilkinson is known for her work on Power Book II: Ghost and All-American.
Harnaik Singh Rathor is the Founder, Publisher, and Editor-in-Chief of StudioX News Canada, Canada's multilingual digital news network serving diaspora communities across 44 languages. With a background in media production, public relations, and multicultural communications, he founded StudioX Film and TV Corporation to bridge the gap between mainstream Canadian media and the country's diverse immigrant communities. He is a member of the Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ), RTDNA Canada, CPRS Vancouver, Unifor, NEPMCC, and the Canada Freelance Union. He holds CAVCO Personnel Number SINH0106. Based in Surrey, British Columbia. | LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/harnaiksinghrathor/ | Muck Rack: https://muckrack.com/harnaiksinghrathor | Email: editor@studioxnews.ca
