After winning over book fans in season 1 of Off Campus, Josh Heuston surprised viewers with his exit from the hit show.
Season 1, which premiered in May, centered around the “sexy and fun ‘opposites attract’ romance between quiet songwriter, Hannah, and Briar University’s all-star hockey athlete, Garrett.” In addition to the leads — played by Ella Bright and Belmont Cameli — Heuston had a scene-stealing role as Justin.
Despite Hannah’s (Bright) crush on Justin, her connection with Garrett (Cameli) was stronger and she chose the latter. Justin, for his part, still had more story that could have been explored before news broke that Heuston, 29, wouldn’t appear in season 2.
“[He is] not [in] next season, but I love Josh and I would not write him off if I can find a way to bring Justin back at some point,” creator Louisa Levy told TV Guide at the time. “We never got a chance to meet Stella, who is the person he ends up with in the book. So maybe we’ll find a way to fold him into a future season.”
Which ‘Off Campus’ Stars Are — and Aren’t — Returning for Season 2?
Levy noted that it wasn’t always the plan for Justin to be absent. “We don’t have him [available] next season, but never say never,” she added.
According to Deadline, Heuston is in fact booked and busy with a role opposite Ryan Corr in a Biblical horror-thriller titled The First Exorcist. Drawing inspiration from one of the accounts in the Gospels, the film will follow the story of Alexios.
“A pillar of his farming community, a beloved husband and father, whose mind and body are overtaken by a legion of demons. As his possession becomes more violent and fear grips the village, a young unknown preacher named Jesus comes to town with a few followers,” read the official film synopsis. “He and only he can confront this ancient evil, which is unlike anything he has faced before — the demonic force behind the Gerasene Demoniac. What follows is the world’s original exorcism: the Miracle of the Swine, a violent and transcendent supernatural showdown whose reverberations would change the course of human history.”
Before it was confirmed that Heuston wasn’t returning as Justin, the actor spoke exclusively to Us Weekly about a possible return, saying in May, “That’s above my pay grade but I just hope Justin finds love and continues to be happy while writing music.”
Biggest Book vs. TV Show Changes in Prime Video’s ‘Off Campus’ Series
Heuston had hope that Justin would do “all right” for himself.
“Justin is following his heart. He’s a little lover boy at heart,” he noted. “I think things went the way that they went but I think he’ll just continue to do that. He’ll probably go write some nice music about how heartbroken he is and then come back and try to find his love.”
At the time, Heuston saw Justin yearning “over someone else” in the future.
“I just tried to give Justin as much as possible. A lot of the time if you fell into a stereotype of another cool guy that does music on campus, you wouldn’t have that love or affinity for him,” he told Us. “My main thing was just trying to make him as good as possible.”
Off Campus is streaming on Prime Video now.
