The Off Campus Season 1 finale revealed the bad blood between Dean Di Laurentis (Stephen Kalyn) and Hunter Davenport (Charlie Evans), and this rivalry is completely different from the books. Amazon Prime Video's trending new romance streaming show is based on Elle Kennedy's book series of the same name, with Season 1 ending with a fight that broke out between Dean and Hunter.
Dean was one of the core hockey players on Briar University's team and a close friend of the lead protagonist, Garrett Graham. Meanwhile, Hunter was introduced in the later episodes of Season 1 as a mystery character who hooked up with Dean's love interest, Allie Hayes.
Why Dean Doesn't Like Hunter Davenport in Off Campus Is Due to a Past Hookup & Prior Issues
Off Campus Season 1 dropped several clues as to why Dean doesn't like Hunter Davenport, ultimately leading to their inevitable clash at the end of the finale. To better understand what led to the pair coming to blows, it's worth noting that Dean, a self-proclaimed womanizer, had an unexpected, complicated friends-with-benefits relationship with Allie Hayes, Hannah Wells' best friend.
While Allie and Dean were both clearly happy with their setup, Allie wanted to create distance from Dean because she felt she was getting too attached and felt guilty over breaking up with her boyfriend, Sean, in the first place. In Episode 7, Beau Maxwell's sister, Joanna, pushed Allie to hook up with someone else.
The hookup happened in the finale, and it later turned out to be Hunter Davenport. However, Allie didn't know who he was; they had agreed not to share their real names because "the benefit of being complete strangers is [they] don't owe each other anything."
Off Campus Season 1 ended with Hunter and Dean coming to blows, mainly due to Dean finding out that Hunter slept with Allie, combined with past issues that were hinted at through dialogue in the finale.
The Season 1 finale had two references to Hunter and Devon's beef. Jules, Logan's sister, told Tucker and Logan that the conflict between the pair had something to do with Hunter's (implied) previous affection with Dean's sister, Summer:
Jules: "Well, they're both bougie b*tches who vacation in the Hamptons, so it could be any number of things. All I know for sure is Hunter went to high school with Dean's sister."
It became clear that Dean hated Hunter after his exchange with his teammate, Tucker, noting that he was not willing to play with him because of his "piss-poor attitude:"
Dean: "He didn't out-skate me."
Tucker: "No, he kind of did, bro. Jensen offered him a spot on the team, and he turned it down. Maybe he had a good reason."
Dean: "Yeah, the reason is that he's a selfish d*ck with a piss-poor attitude, and I'm not f****ng playing with him."
Dean and Hunter's intense rivalry at the end of Off Campus Season 1 is expected to carry over into future seasons. Yet, this dynamic is unique from the books (similar to Beau Maxwell's expanded role in Off Campus Season 1).
Why Dean Hating Hunter in 'Off Campus' TV Series Isn't True to the Books
Prime Video's Off Campus adaptation introduced the conflict between Hunter and Dean in Season 1 to add drama for later seasons and to give both of them room to grow. This isn't true to the books because Dean and Hunter had no rivalry or personal beef in Off Campus Book 3 (The Score).
In the third book, it was revealed that Hunter Davenport was a talented freshman hockey player who joined the Briar Hawks. Dean actually served as a mentor for Hunter, taking him under his wing both on and off the ice. They had a friendly mentor-mentee relationship.
The book also revealed that Hunter had a thing for Dean's sister, Summer, but it didn't affect their friendship. At the end of the book, Dean even apologized to Hunter for missing their private sessions because he was grieving Beau's death.
Speaking with TV Guide, Off Campus showrunner Louisa Levy explained that the creative team made this intentional pivot to "throw a wrench" into the relationship between Allie and Dean, which could lead to a potential mentor-mentee dynamic down the line:
"Even though his character doesn't interact with Allie and Dean in this way, it was fun to be able to tee this up, because in the books, Dean really does mentor Hunter. I thought, "What if we make that less of an easy relationship and give them somewhere to go?" The idea behind the introduction is really, how can we use him to throw a wrench in the existing status quo, and how can we create an arc to getting to the mentor relationship that we have in the book that is pretty sweet?"
The immediate rivalry and tension between Dean and Hunter in Prime Video's Off Campus Season 1 and beyond is a good thing; it fuels excitement and unpredictability for both new and diehard fans of the book, hooking them on the already-confirmed Season 2.
