This story contains spoilers for the book The Score, which is the primary source material for Season 2 of Off Campus.
If you’ve read the Off Campus novels, you know it’s not devoid of tragedy, and there is one particularly painful loss. However, I just learned that Elle Kennedy, the author of the novels that have inspired the wildly popular book-to-screen adaptation on Amazon Prime, wanted to kill off a different character…one of her best characters, in fact!
Tucker Was Almost Killed In The Off Campus Books
You read the header right: John Tucker (who is played by Jalen Thomas Brooks in the series) was almost killed off! Crazy, right? Seriously, it’s hard to believe Kennedy considered this, especially since Tucker is the focus of The Goal, which is the fourth book in her series. However, when she was originally planning these novels, she was planning to write a trilogy, as the author explained on Off the Shelf with Morgann Book:
It was going to be a trilogy, and Tucker was supposed to be the one that you fell in love with, and then you were gonna grieve for.
Well, you better believe I would have grieved for him. However, I do get her reasoning. In Dean’s book, The Score, he has to deal with a major tragedy. Kennedy had that happen because she needed the ever-shirtless, hotshot hockey player, who is now played by Stephen Kalyn, to deal with a major life challenge, as she explained:
I always knew that for Dean, because even when I introduced him in The Deal, I was like, ‘This guy is so perfect; his life is so perfect. Someone needs to destroy his life.’
I mean, someone does destroy his life (and we’ll talk more about that in a second), but it’s almost impossible for me to fathom that originally it was going to be Tucker. Further explaining why she had The Pitt actor’s character in mind, Elle Kennedy said:
So, I said, ‘OK, we’ll do three [books]. It’ll be Garrett, Logan, Dean, and we’ll have this fourth guy that we love. And then we’re gonna lose him, and it’s going to be horrible, and it’s gonna just shatter Dean’s entire world. But I think [Tucker] became too likeable.
Kennedy went on to say the fans should thank her editor for all this, because she’s the one who said Tucker might not be a good character to kill off. However, the author was steadfast when it came to having a character die. So, yes, Tucker lives to see his own book (and hopefully season). However, another beloved character passes away, and I feel pretty certain they’re not going to make it to the end of Dean and Allie’s season.
Who Actually Dies In The Off Campus Books, And What Might Happen In Season 2
OK, so we’re in major spoiler territory now. In Dean’s story, The Score (which is the third book in the series but will be the main focus of the second season of the sexually explicit Amazon Prime project), Beau Maxwell dies in a car accident. It crushes Dean, and it deeply impacts his life and relationship with Allie.
In the show, Beau is played by Khobe Clarke, and while he doesn’t live with Dean, Tucker, Garrett and Logan, he’s close with them. And he’s especially tight with Dean; in fact, they’re best friends.
Now, will he die on screen? It seems likely, because they’ve already foreshadowed it by having Beau be the Goose to Dean’s Maverick at a costume party…and if you’ve seen Top Gun, you know what that implies.
Lots has changed in the Off Campus show, though. They moved Dean and Allie’s story up, they introduced Hunter Davenport in a totally different way and more. So, things can change. However, I do feel fairly confident in guessing that Beau will die in Season 2 of Off Campus, and Tucker will live to see out his own romance (which would likely be the focus of Season 4).
Now, while we wait to see how all this plays out on screen, you can read Elle Kennedy’s Off Campus books, and you can stream Season 1 of the show with an Amazon Prime subscription.
