It helps to be a hockey romance show coming out on streaming services in the wake of “Heated Rivalry.” Prime Video has gone all out for the release of the new series “Off Campus,” and the cast recently flew down to Brazil for several days of press.
“We’ve just been drinking a lot of coconut water today,” the show’s lead Ella Bright says. “That’s the vibe.”
The 19-year-old British actress stars as Hannah in the latest BookTok (the community on TikTok centered around books) sensation series adaptation, which is based on the 2015 book “The Deal” by Elle Kennedy. The show, out Wednesday, follows Hannah Wells, a music major who strikes a deal with the school’s star hockey player, Garrett: he needs tutoring help from her to pass a philosophy class, and she needs his help attracting the attention of her crush, Justin.
Bright was unfamiliar with the series before getting an audition, but was vaguely aware that hockey romance books were a thing.
“I had heard, every now and again, of ice hockey romance books from BookTok, and heard it circling, but I’d never heard of ‘Off Campus’ specifically,” she says.
Ella Bright
Lexie Moreland/WWD
She originally auditioned in March 2025 and they shot last summer, all before the world was taken by the “Heated Rivalry” series.
“I mean, I’m from London, so I had never watched a hockey game in my life,” Bright says. “I had no idea that it was this thing. And when we were filming, I’m thinking we’re the only people doing an ice hockey show. I was like, ‘I love this story, but it seems very new.’ Ice hockey’s very niche. It is such a serendipitous thing that we all kind of came out at the same time.”
She fell in love with Hannah, her character, straight away.
“Her quirkiness is very fun to play and she’s so quick-witted in her banter with Garrett. And that’s a fun part of their relationship, this push and pull between them when they’re just friends and they’re doing this kind of fake dating situation. She’s got a real quiet strength to her. She has confidence in herself and I think that was really admirable,” Bright says.
“That was something that I worked on during the first self tape — I initially played her very in on herself and shyer than I assumed that she might be around Justin. And I very quickly learned from our amazing casting director who was like, ‘Hannah, she has this confidence in herself. Yes, she might not be the most popular person in school, but she has her two friends, Dexter and Allie, who she trusts and that’s all that matters to her. She knows who she is in this life and she is completely comfortable in that.’ She’s very comfortable in the quirkiness and I loved that. I thought that that was really fresh and very against the stereotype that I think people are going to assume with the quiet, nerdy music girl.”
Ella Bright
Lexie Moreland/WWD
Bright grew up in London and got into the arts in a very “random” way. A “very loud kid,” her parents put her in performing programs as a child, having her acting and singing and dancing on Saturdays. From there, she built a network of people in the performing arts and discovered a passion.
“I’m very grateful that it just kind of snowballed from there. None of it was planned,” she says. “No one in my family does anything in the business. So it’s all very new to all of us, but I’m around the most supportive friends and family and it’s just been exciting.”
Once the season releases, Bright and the rest of the group won’t have to wait too long to reunite: they’re headed back to Vancouver to shoot the second season shortly after.
“I think I get a day off to go back to London, repack my suitcase, and we start again,” she says. “I can’t wait.”
