Why Did ‘Off Campus’ Cut the Highly Anticipated ‘Hands Off’ Rule After Multiple Book Changes?

Season 1 of Prime Video’s Off Campus made some significant changes from Elle Kennedy‘s The Deal — but the absence of the campus-wide “hands off” rule upset book fans the most.

Based on the Off Campus book series by Kennedy, the show, which premiered Wednesday, May 13, follows an elite ice hockey team and the women in their lives as they “grapple with love, heartbreak and self-discovery — forging deep friendships and enduring bonds while navigating the complexities that come with transitioning into adulthood,” read the official synopsis.

Hannah (Ella Bright) and Garrett’s (Belmont Cameli) love story took center stage in season 1 — with several key moments from their book, The Deal, swapped for an updated version.

The most significant change was the way Garrett instituted a campus-wide hands-off law after his split from Hannah. On the page, Garrett’s decision frustrated Hannah — but it also brought them back together.

The show did things a little differently with Hannah catching wind of Garrett threatening other guys so they would stay away from her. Hannah confronted Garrett — and that’s when they realized some confusion between his team members led to a misunderstanding.

“We were trying to find a way to keep this fan-favorite moment from the book, while not making it like a problem for Garrett,” showrunner Louisa Levy told Today. “So we came up with a solution that still honors the original intent but makes Garrett not completely terrible for doing this after breaking up with Hannah.”

Levy also spoke to Us about adapting the story to the screen.

“It’s definitely great to have the blueprint of this fabulous book series to start with, but adapting for a TV show is a little bit different,” she told Us. “We need to keep the audience’s focus in a different way.”

Levy broke down the approach from page to screen.

“We have a lot of stories told in different ways. We have eight episodes instead of the whole book,” she noted. “So we really started with the things that were super nonnegotiable — that without those things it wouldn’t be Off Campus.”

She continued: “From there, we added as many of the book moments as we could. We dropped them in like Easter eggs, and we just really spent time taking one’s inside character and externalizing them.”

Off Campus is currently streaming on Prime Video.