Who Is [Spoiler] In ‘Off Campus? ‘Briar U’ Character Explained

SPOILER ALERT: This piece contains major spoilers for the finale of Prime Video’s Off Campus.

Readers of Elle Kennedy’s Off Campus series have a surprise to look forward to in the final episodes of the first season of Prime Video’s television adaptation of the hockey romance novels.

As of episode six, “The Breakaway,” perspective has shifted from Hannah (Ella Bright) and Garrett’s (Belmont Cameli) love story to include the budding romance between Allie (Mika Abdulla) and Dean Di Laurentis (Stephen Kalyn), which takes place in the third book in Kennedy’s quintet, The Score. After Allie breaks up with her longtime on and off again boyfriend Sean (Riley Davis) for the final time, she takes Dean up on his offer for a “fun ride” with no strings attached. The way this comes about unfolds very similarly to The Score except for the initial encounter Allie has with Dean at the house — which involves them sleeping together right away in the book while the show delays that.

Fast forward to episode seven, when Beau Maxwell’s (Khobe Clarke) sister Joanna Maxwell  (Lauren Patten) comes to town for a visit, and she and Allie bond over acting and Broadway. It’s Joanna who encourages Allie to look for no strings sex with another guy, who we first meet as Carter St. James V thanks to his fake ID, which Allie spots from far away. If viewers recognize this face, that’s because it’s Charlie Evans, who portrays the son of James Marsden’s Cal Bradford in Paradise.

While the situation may seem throwaway, with Allie and “Carter” sharing merely a steamy kiss before they part, Allie later tells Dean that they need to sleep with other people, and she happens to see “Carter” while he’s on a run right as Dean calls her to confess that he loves her. They sleep together, and the big buildup to who he is spells out some interesting plot points if Season 2 moves forward with Dean and Allie’s love story. Turns out “Carter” is actually Hunter Davenport, a freshman hockey player whom Logan (Antonio Cipriano) tries to recruit to join the line after Garrett gets suspended for four games for attacking Aaron Delaney (Quinten Hames).

RELATED: 10 Big ‘Off Campus’ Season 1 Book Differences: From Main Couple To The Hockey Teammates’ Lives & Love Stories

“That’s obviously a very big twist in the season. Hunter is a character in the books, but it does not really have a lot of conflict until we get to his books. He has a book in the Briar U series, and we mostly just wanted to tap on the fact that we have more than just four books,” co-showrunner Louisa Levy told Deadline. “And we want to play with a whole universe of Elle Kennedy characters, and we intend to. And they might show up in ways that you don’t expect, especially ones that have more story down the line.”

The problem is, as viewers find out, Dean has beef with Hunter not just because Hunter can go toe to toe with Dean in skates on the ice, but because Hunter went to school with Dean’s sister Summer. In The Score, Hunter is already on the team, and Dean has taken him under his wing. The pair actually eye Sabrina, who becomes Tucker’s love interest in Kennedy’s fourth book The Goal, in The Score at Malone’s one night.

“It’s a little different than the books. We wanted to find ways to externalize the internal and keep the stories going, but it was a fun way to play with that character, and it still does honor his backstory,” Levy said. “And there are some things coming up season two that all I’ll tease, but not reveal anything, because there’s a ways to go before we get to it.”

Hunter has his own novel installment in the Briar U series, a second series that follows more characters from Off Campus like some of the teammates of the core four Off Campus players. Hunter’s book is titled The Play, and his love interest is Demi Davis. Dean’s sister Summer also has her own book in the Briar U series, The Chase in which she experiences a forced proximity romance with Colin “Fitzy” Fitzgerald, who played with Dean, Garret, Tucker and Logan.

This very different entrance for Hunter, who was offered a spot at open tryouts as a freshman but declined because he has a “piss-poor attitude” according to Dean in the show, spells out some extra chaos in Season 2, whether or not it mainly focuses on Dean and Allie or Logan and Grace Ivers — who will be portrayed by India Fowler, as Deadline first reported.

RELATED: ‘Off Campus’ Stars Ella Bright & Mika Abdalla Unpack “Integral” Chemistry Read Scene, Hannah & Allie’s Friendship and Individual Musical Moments