{"id":481419,"date":"2026-05-12T20:23:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T20:23:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/481419\/"},"modified":"2026-05-12T20:23:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T20:23:11","slug":"off-campus-star-ella-bright-on-playing-hannah-wells","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/481419\/","title":{"rendered":"“Off Campus” Star Ella Bright on Playing Hannah Wells"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tSince the TV adaptation of Elle Kennedy\u2019s \u201cOff Campus<\/a>\u201d novels was announced in 2024, fans of the massively popular book series have been wondering: Who is going to play Hannah Wells?<\/p>\n

\n\tThe answer is Ella Bright<\/a>, the 19-year-old, British actress who will be gracing our screens when all eight episodes of \u201cOff Campus\u201d drop on May 13 on Prime Video<\/a> \u2014 complete with a convincing American accent to boot. Bright was in the middle of studying for her A-levels when the Zoom call came in that would upend her life, and the plan she\u2019d been working toward gave way to a leading role in one of the most anticipated streaming adaptations in years.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn Season 1 of \u201cOff Campus,\u201d Bright stars as the shy, self-possessed singer-songwriter who agrees to a fake relationship with all-star hockey captain Garrett Graham (Belmont Cameli) in order to make her crush jealous. Adapted from Kennedy\u2019s beloved books \u2014 which have sold more than six million copies \u2014 the show follows the elite men\u2019s hockey team at the fictional Briar University in Massachusetts and the women in their lives, with each season revolving around a different love story.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tElla Bright <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Liane Hentscher\/Prime<\/p>\n

\n\tBorn in New York City and raised in London, Bright has been performing since she was 8, less a calculated career move than a practical solution to a household problem. \u201cI was a very loud child,\u201d she tells Variety over Zoom. \u201cMy parents just went, \u2018Put her in performing so she can shout somewhere else.’\u201d She then spent the better part of her teenage years on the British children\u2019s series \u201cMalory Towers\u201d \u2014\u00a0set in post World War II England, about an all-girls boarding school \u2014 joining the cast at 12, and finishing at 18. By the time it ended, the girls she had grown up alongside on screen had become her closest friends in real life. \u201cThey practically live at my house every day,\u201d she says. It was, by any measure, a remarkable way to grow up, she says.<\/p>\n

\n\tAt 19, Bright is not far from the age of the character she is playing, though the material is a considerable distance from the kid-friendly world of \u201cMalory Towers.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI always made this joke with my mom,\u201d she says. \u201c\u2018Malory Towers\u2019 was a school-based program. So now it was like, here she goes, she\u2019s graduated, she\u2019s going to college.\u201d But, instead of going to university, Bright\u2019s \u201ccollege\u201d coming-of-age year unfolded on a set in Vancouver, surrounded by her \u201cOff Campus\u201d castmates.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tFor the casting process, Bright submitted a self-tape, completed two Zoom calls and then flew to Los Angeles for a marathon day of chemistry reads. Weeks of additional callbacks followed, then came one final Zoom, billed to her as a meeting about the show\u2019s music \u2014 which sent her logging on in a quiet panic about her voice, a lifelong insecurity of hers. The producers kindly stopped her, though, before she could spiral. They weren\u2019t there to talk about music, they told her: Bright had gotten the part. \u201cI just sobbed my big eyes out,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tElla Bright and Josh Heuston <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Liane Hentscher\/Prime<\/p>\n

\n\tThe show\u2019s music actually turned out to be among the most transformative parts of the experience. Bright worked with a vocal coach throughout production and, on days off, went straight to the studio. She and co-star Josh Heuston, who plays musician Justin Kohl, both learned piano and guitar from scratch, and it was important to both of them that no hand doubles be used. \u201cI feel very happy to say that it was all me,\u201d Bright says, again noting that what had begun as her greatest fear ended up being her favorite part of making the show.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe season features seven songs in total, four of them originals developed with the show\u2019s music team and songwriter Amy Allen, who has written hits for Sabrina Carpenter, Olivia Rodrigo and Harry Styles, among many others.<\/p>\n

\n\tTo get into Hannah\u2019s headspace, Bright built a playlist almost immediately after landing the role. Olivia Rodrigo\u2019s \u201cScared of My Guitar\u201d was an early inspiration, while Ethel Cain\u2019s \u201cSun Bleached Flies\u201d she found deeper into filming, when the story moved into its more emotional register. \u201cI really think there\u2019s a quiet strength to that song that I see in Hannah,\u201d she says. \u201cI really felt connected to it.\u201d What followed was a Pinterest board and a deep dive into the books \u2014 she read \u201cThe Deal\u201d in a single day after getting the part, having previously only skimmed it during the audition process. She has since read \u201cThe Score\u201d and \u201cThe Mistake,\u201d though she is, by her own admission, superstitious about reading ahead. She will read the next book, she says, when the next season is greenlit. Season 2 is already confirmed, which accounts for \u201cThe Mistake\u201d \u2014 assuming, of course, that the show follows the order of the books, but she has read \u201cThe Score,\u201d too. A third season, perhaps, may already be in the works.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the meantime, Bright is unambiguous about her favorite couple in the series. Dean and Allie, she exclaims, are \u201cso cool and exciting,\u201d and she cannot wait for their story to unfold on screen. \u201cTheir relationship is unmatched,\u201d she adds. \u201cI\u2019m so excited about that, but Hannah and Garrett have a special place in my heart.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tGarrett (Belmont Cameli) and Hannah (Ella Bright)<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Liane Hentscher\/Prime<\/p>\n

\n\tThe cast around her is, by all evidence, genuinely close. She and Mika Abdalla, who plays Hannah\u2019s best friend Allie Hayes, lived in the same apartment complex during filming and were rarely apart. \u201cShe\u2019s like a big sister to me,\u201d Bright says. Heuston is someone she had recognized before ever meeting him, from his work on the Australian series \u201cHeartbreak High,\u201d which made their first encounter outside the hotel lobby somewhat nerve-racking.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tTo build a closeness across the whole \u201cOff Campus\u201d ensemble, the main cast drove up to Whistler for a long weekend early in production with no itinerary or agenda, just a big rented house and impromptu games of hide and seek. \u201cWe\u2019re all from really separate worlds,\u201d Bright says, \u201cAnd everyone\u2019s got their really cool, amazing stories.\u201d The cast then spent virtually every weekend together throughout filming, and that ease, she believes, made it onto the screen. \u201cWe just genuinely loved spending time with each other,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd that happened to be captured, which is really cool.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tLogan (Antonio Cipriano), left, Garrett (Belmont Cameli), Dean (Stephen Thomas Kalyn) and Tucker (Jalen Thomas Brooks) <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Liane Hentscher\/Prime<\/p>\n

\n\tThe show enters a marketplace that has, in the past year, become unexpectedly hot for hockey romance. \u201cHeated Rivalry,\u201d the Crave adaptation that became a cultural phenomenon on HBO Max, introduced a massive new audience to the genre and turned its leads into household names almost overnight. Bright watched it in a single sitting, becoming as obsessed as everyone else. Some of the \u201cOff Campus\u201d cast found themselves in Los Angeles together in January at the height of that frenzy, equal parts energized and slightly dazed by what they were watching happen in real time. They crossed paths with \u201cHeated Rivalry\u201d star Connor Storrie at a party, compared notes briefly, and came away with the sense that they were standing at the edge of something. \u201cI guess the world is ready for a lot of ice hockey at the moment,\u201d Bright says. \u201cIt\u2019s really cool.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tDespite the show not yet being out, Bright is already beginning to understand what that kind of attention feels like up close. Within hours of the casting announcement, a stranger recognized her on the London Underground. She recalls the encounter being delightful: a high five, a \u201cgood luck, you\u2019re going to be amazing\u201d and then gone. She recalls standing there a little speechless while her friends, watching the encounter unfold, arrived at the same thought simultaneously. \u201cGirl,\u201d their expressions said, \u201cwhat have you just signed on for?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIt is a question Bright is still, in some ways, answering. Her plan is to stay largely offline, lean on her castmates and resist the pull of whatever discourse follows the premiere. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of a new experience for all of us,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s so crazy to be in that orbit of conversation. It\u2019s a very strange experience, but this has been a really great support group.\u201d Production for Season 2 is set to begin almost immediately after the press tour wraps, leaving Bright very little time to sit with whatever comes next, before she has to go back and make more of it. She seems, on balance, entirely at peace with that.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI just never imagined that I would be able to get a role like this,\u201d Bright says. \u201cIt felt like a dream. And I couldn\u2019t really believe that it happened to me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Since the TV adaptation of Elle Kennedy\u2019s \u201cOff Campus\u201d novels was announced in 2024, fans of the massively…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":481420,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[265],"tags":[18,209916,117,19,17,198934,3973,128],"class_list":{"0":"post-481419","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-eire","9":"tag-ella-bright","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-off-campus","14":"tag-prime-video","15":"tag-tv"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116563477680618572","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=481419"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481419\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/481420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=481419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=481419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=481419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}