Allie (Mika Abdalla) in 'Off Campus.' Liane Hentscher/ Prime Logo text Off Campus star Mika Abdalla is reflecting on her character’s journey in season one of the romance series.
The 26-year-old, who plays Allie Hayes, is digging into the road to self discovery that the college student and aspiring actress takes in the series. The character is the best friend to season one’s leading lady, Hannah Wells, portrayed by Ella Bright, whose relationship with NHL-bound hockey player Garrett Graham, portrayed by Belmont Cameli, is the central plot for Off Campus’ first season.
Allie is equal parts quirky best friend and fleshed out leading lady material of her own. Off Campus has adopted the Bridgerton model, so Abdalla’s Allie will one day be the female lead of the series; however, it’s unclear which season at this point.
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“I learned pretty early on that Allie’s story is a lot more prevalent in season one than it is in The Deal, which is nice,” she tells The Hollywood Reporter on a recent Zoom. The actress is referring to the Elle Kennedy novel, part of the author’s titular Off Campus book series, which the show’s first season is based on.
She adds, “Allie is Hannah’s best friend and roommate. You can’t let these people be side characters in a season [even if] they’re technically not mentioned as much in the books because that just doesn’t make sense.”
When season one begins, Allie’s immediately introduced as the free-spirited and fun-loving best friend. She’s in a seemingly never-ending on-and-off again relationship with her boyfriend Sean. But by the end of the season, things look quite different for the aspiring actress.
“She’s in this forced way of being. She has a lot of big ideas about what she wants for her life in an idealistic way,” Abdalla says. “Like most 18, 19, 20-year-olds, who have just left house for the first time discover, sometimes your expectations don’t match up to what is meant for you in life.”
Abdalla as Allie Hayes in Off Campus. Liane Hentscher / Prime As the season goes on, Allie comes to realize that the life she thought she wanted for herself doesn’t actually align with her desires. “We see her find herself and feel comfortable in being honest in a way that’s new and scary and overwhelming to her. But then we also see her put up this front for her best friend, who’s going through something much more,” Abdalla says.
“We see this complex thing where Allie’s extremely emotional and extremely vulnerable, but she’s able to mask it in order to be there for the people that she loves, which is what drew me to her in the first place,” she continues.
The actress was drawn in by how grounded the characters in the series are. “They all use fronts that are very who they want to be. Then we get to see them in the ways that they interact with other people that are maybe closer to them or the way that they are when they’re alone,” she says. “I don’t think that is something that you’ll always see in this genre.”
Abdalla has had a largely positive experience with fans of Off Campus, which had a dedicated fanbase long before Prime Video came into the picture. She describes the fans as so nice it’s shocking.
“It’s been exciting to give the people what they want because I think the characters are honored in such a beautiful way, and it is just a really cool opportunity to see these characters from a book that you know so well and that you already love in slightly different scenarios,” she says.
She adds, “Imagine your favorite show from childhood was just redone. You get to see your most beloved characters in different situations, and you just get to see more of their lives. We do include a lot of the iconic scenes or moments or whatever from the books in the show, so I’m really excited for the book fans to see those.”
The book series Off Campus, which begins with The Deal, follows a new-but-connected couple in each book. The show plans to keep that model. Season one dives headfirst into the age-old romantic trope of fake dating with music student Hannah Wells, who, in true hockey fashion, is often called Wellsy by her love interest, Garrett Graham. Graham is the son of a professional hockey legend and captain of Briar University’s hockey team.
Louisa Levy serves as the creator and co-showrunner, executive producing alongside fellow showrunner Gina Fattore. Wyck Godfrey, Marty Bowen and James Seidman executive produce for Temple Hill. Leanna Billings of Billings Productions and Neal Flaherty also serve as executive producers on the series.
All episodes of Off Campus are streaming now on Prime Video. Read THR‘s show coverage here.
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