The Off Campus team is framing this as a testament to the casting process — showing that sometimes the universe knows better than we do. Both Kalyn and Abdalla are now positioned as grateful underdogs who landed exactly where they were meant to be.
Insiders say Mika Abdalla's original audition for Hannah was apparently SO wrong that 'everybody knew it wasn't right' — which is quite the indictment of her initial read. Meanwhile, Stephen Kalyn admits he can now see exactly why Logan didn't work out for him.
Stephen Kalyn revealed to Bustle in May 2026 that he originally auditioned for Logan before booking Dean. Mika Abdalla exclusively told Us Weekly she read for Hannah first, stating 'I just knew that wasn't right' and 'everybody knew that wasn't right.' Showrunner Louisa Levy confirmed the show has eight episodes instead of adapting the entire book series.
The Off Campus casting process proves that getting rejected from one role sometimes opens doors to the perfect fit — but it also raises questions about what might have been for those who didn't catch their lucky break.
The cast of Amazon MGM Studios' Off Campus looks like Elle Kennedy's books came to life, but behind the scenes, a game of musical chairs nearly gave us an entirely different lineup. Two stars are now opening up about the wild casting journey that almost had them playing completely different characters — and the revelations are juicier than any hockey drama on the ice. Stephen Kalyn, who now anchors the series as Dean, recently admitted to Bustle in May 2026 that he originally threw his hat in the ring for Logan before landing his current role.
'I thought it was good,' Kalyn confessed about that initial audition. But here's where it gets interesting — he can pinpoint exactly why it didn't work out. 'It's interesting how the casting process works because I see why I didn't get the part,' he revealed.
When Dean came along, though, something clicked. 'Then I was like, OK, that seems more up my alley.' The self-awareness is refreshing, even if we can't help but wonder what Logan would've looked like with Kalyn's take. Mika Abdalla, who plays Allie opposite Stephen Kalyn's Dean, has an even more dramatic casting story.
She exclusively told Us Weekly that she originally read for Hannah — the lead female role eventually played by Ella Bright that's central to The Deal, the first book in Elle Kennedy's series. But from jump street, something felt off. 'I just knew that wasn't right,' Abdalla admitted.
And apparently, she wasn't alone in that assessment. 'Everybody knew that wasn't right.' Ouch. When the opportunity arose for Allie — a character who appears in the third installment of the book series but is being set up as a future lead on the show — Abdalla finally got her hands on the scripts and had an entirely different reaction.
'I was like, "This is right." Everything just fell into place in a really good way.' Showrunner Louisa Levy spoke exclusively to Us Weekly about the delicate balance of adapting Kennedy's beloved book series for television. With only eight episodes to work with instead of an entire novel, Levy explained that her team identified 'super nonnegotiables — that without those things it wouldn't be Off Campus' before layering in additional elements.
'We dropped them in like Easter eggs,' she said of the book moments they managed to preserve. The approach clearly worked: Off Campus premiered in May 2026 and has been drawing praise for how it captures the essence of Kennedy's hockey romance world. The full Off Campus ensemble includes Belmont Cameli as Garrett, Jalen Thomas Brooks, Antonio Cipriano, Josh Heuston, Steve Howey, with Charlie Evans and India Fowler appearing as surprise additions later in the season. But it's Kalyn and Abdalla's behind-the-scenes journeys that prove sometimes you have to lose a role to find your perfect character — even if 'everybody knew' when something wasn't working.
