Off Campus is an eight-episode romantic drama streaming exclusively on Amazon Prime Video from May 13, 2026. Developed by Louisa Levy and based on the internationally bestselling Off-Campus novel series by Elle Kennedy, the show follows music student Hannah Wells and Briar University hockey star Garrett Graham in a fake-dating arrangement that stops being fake before either of them is ready to admit it. The series debuted to a 96% score on Rotten Tomatoes, an 8.2 on IMDb, and within one week was sitting at number two on Prime Video’s global Top 10. It was already renewed for Season 2 before Season 1 even premiered. The numbers tell the story: Off Campus is the romance series that 2026 needed, and it delivers.
| Detail | Info |
|---|---|
| Series Name | Off Campus |
| Language | English |
| Platform | Amazon Prime Video |
| Premiere Date | May 13, 2026 (all 8 episodes) |
| Episodes | 8 |
| Season 2 | Confirmed (filming began April 2026) |
| Genre | Romantic Drama |
| Creator | Louisa Levy |
| Co-Showrunner | Gina Fattore |
| Cast | Ella Bright, Belmont Cameli, Mika Abdalla, Antonio Cipriano, Jalen Thomas Brooks, Josh Heuston, Stephen Kalyn |
| Based On | Off-Campus book series by Elle Kennedy |
| TV Rating | TV-MA |
| Production | Amazon MGM Studios, Temple Hill Entertainment, Billings Productions |
| IMDb Score | 8.2 |
| Rotten Tomatoes | 93% critics, 90% audience (as of May 22, 2026) |
| Metacritic | 71 (Generally Favorable) |
| Our Rating | 8 / 10 |
Is Off Campus Worth Watching?
Without reservation, yes. Off Campus is the kind of series that you start at 9 PM telling yourself you will watch one episode and realise four hours later that you have watched the whole season. It is not reinventing the romance genre, and it does not need to. What it does is execute the tropes of the romance novel tradition with enough intelligence, heat, and genuine emotional investment in its characters that the result is deeply satisfying rather than formulaic. The highest praise a romance show can receive is that you actually care whether the couple ends up together. Off Campus earns that care by the end of episode two and does not let go of it.
What Is Off Campus About?
Hannah Wells (Ella Bright) is a music student at Briar University. She is quiet, talented, and carrying a personal history that has made her careful about who she trusts. Garrett Graham (Belmont Cameli) is the star centre of Briar’s varsity hockey team. He is cocky, charming, and carrying a father-shaped wound that his public confidence has been expertly covering for years.
Hannah needs a place to stay after her off-campus housing falls through. Garrett’s house has a spare room. The deal: she tutors him to keep his grades up so he stays eligible for the team. He keeps the room available. Neither of them is looking for anything else.
The series spends its eight episodes carefully, patiently, and with excellent script discipline dismantling both characters’ defences. Hannah’s quiet intensity begins to crack Garrett’s easy swagger. Garrett’s unguarded moments begin to open up spaces Hannah thought she had permanently closed off. The secondary ensemble, including Allie (Mika Abdalla), Logan (Antonio Cipriano), and Dean (Stephen Kalyn), runs its own romantic parallel tracks that give the series its breadth and give fans of the broader book series their points of connection.
What Works
Ella Bright and Belmont Cameli have the kind of chemistry that carries a series. The fake-dating trope lives or dies on whether the audience believes that these two people are avoiding what they feel, and that requires two performers who can communicate desire and denial simultaneously without overdoing either. Bright and Cameli do this in every scene they share. The tutoring sequences are the series’ best writing because they let the tension build in the most mundane setting possible, which makes it more, not less, charged.
The series respects the Romance novel tradition it is adapting. Bridgerton was the first streaming series to recognise that adapting Romance novels successfully means committing to the tropes that readers love rather than undercutting them with irony or apologising for them with drama. Off Campus follows that lead and executes it with even more tonal confidence. The opposites-attract dynamic, the forced proximity, the slow-burn reveal: all of it is played straight and with full commitment.
Hannah is written as a full person, not a love interest. Her music is central to her characterisation in a way that connects to how she processes feeling, and the series uses that connection purposefully throughout. By the time she performs something personal for Garrett, you understand exactly what that moment costs her, because the show has spent five episodes showing you.
The secondary cast earns its own investment. Mika Abdalla as Allie and Antonio Cipriano as Logan have enough screen chemistry of their own that viewers are already speculating about which book their arc will fully adapt in Season 2. Josh Heuston and Stephen Kalyn round out the ensemble with distinct personalities rather than interchangeable hockey player archetypes.
It displaced The Boys at number one on Prime Video within a week. That kind of cultural moment for a romance series is not accidental. It reflects audience hunger for exactly this kind of content done well.
What Does Not Work
The hockey sequences are convincing but not exceptional. The series was filmed in Vancouver and the production clearly invested in making the ice sequences authentic. They succeed, but they do not become the show’s signature visual language the way sports sequences do in the best sports dramas.
Some secondary relationship arcs are underdeveloped in Season 1. With eight episodes split across multiple couples, certain threads feel begun rather than explored. The Season 2 renewal addresses this structurally, but viewers who complete Season 1 and want more of Dean’s arc specifically will have to wait.
The TV-MA rating surprised some viewers. The series is considerably more explicit than the marketing materials suggested. Viewers who went in expecting a young adult clean romance and encountered something closer to adult content were caught off guard. Worth managing expectations for: this is not a family show.
Performances
Ella Bright (Wikipedia) makes a strong case for herself as one of streaming’s most watchable new leads. Her Hannah is controlled but not cold, careful but not closed, and the moments where those controls slip are the series’ best acting work. She plays vulnerability without performing it, which is harder than it sounds.
Belmont Cameli (Wikipedia) as Garrett Graham handles the cocky-athlete-with-a-tender-interior arc with enough self-awareness to avoid the obvious trap of making Garrett either insufferable or instantly sympathetic. He earns his redeeming qualities gradually, which is exactly right.
Mika Abdalla (Wikipedia) as Allie is the series’ most entertaining supporting performance and the character fans will most anticipate seeing expanded in Season 2. Her comic timing is sharp and her scenes with Hannah are the best friendship dynamic in the show.
Antonio Cipriano as Logan and Stephen Kalyn as Dean both bring personality to roles that could have been wallpaper. Josh Heuston and Jalen Thomas Brooks complete an ensemble that is better cast than most romance series manage.
Direction and Technical Elements
Louisa Levy as creator and co-showrunner with Gina Fattore has produced eight episodes of unusually consistent tonal quality. The writing does not spike into melodrama when it is trying for intensity, and does not turn ironic when it is playing the romance straight. That tonal control is the series’ most impressive technical achievement.
The Vancouver production values are high, and the cinematography gives the series a particular kind of golden-hour lighting that suits the warmth of the material without becoming saccharine. The music choices throughout are deliberate and precise: Hannah’s songs are used carefully, deployed at moments of maximum emotional relevance.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Off Campus suitable for all ages?
No. The series is rated TV-MA and contains adult content including explicit sexual scenes. It is not appropriate for younger audiences.
Is Off Campus based on a book?
Yes. It is adapted from the Off-Campus novel series by Elle Kennedy, an international bestselling author with over 10 million copies sold across more than 25 languages.
Will there be a Season 2 of Off Campus?
Yes. Amazon renewed Off Campus for Season 2 in February 2026, before Season 1 even premiered. India Fowler and Philipa Soo have joined the cast for Season 2.
Which book does Season 1 cover?
Season 1 primarily adapts The Deal, the first book in Elle Kennedy’s Off-Campus series, which follows Hannah and Garrett’s story.
Where was Off Campus filmed?
Principal photography took place in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, from June to October 2025.
How many episodes does Off Campus Season 1 have?
Eight episodes, all available from May 13, 2026.
Final Verdict
CinemaCelebs Rating: 8 / 10
Off Campus is exactly what it promises to be, which is far rarer than it sounds. A romance series that commits to its genre with intelligence and craft, built on two lead performances with genuine chemistry, and constructed with enough secondary character depth to justify both its eight-episode runtime and the already-confirmed second season. Ella Bright is a star. Belmont Cameli earns his redemption arc. And the whole thing is warm, sexy, and completely addictive in the way only the best romance storytelling manages to be. Prime Video’s best original of 2026 so far.
Binge it if: You love romance novels, slow-burn dynamics, opposites-attract chemistry, college dramas, or any combination of the above.
Skip it if: Adult content in a TV-MA series is not your preference, or you are looking for a sports drama with emphasis on the sport rather than the relationships.
