Stephen Kalyn On Dean’s ‘Off Campus’ Changes & Season 2’s Story

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Dean Di Laurentis could have been your stereotypical college party boy in the first season of Off Campus, but Stephen Kalyn knew fans needed a glimpse beneath the seemingly carefree surface. In Elle Kennedy’s 2015 book The Deal, Dean is a side character whose real inner turmoil isn’t explored until a couple novels later. But Kalyn’s version of Dean in the Prime Video series is already more than meets the eye.

“I wanted to capture that energy of the ‘life of the party’ guy, who just wants to have fun, no limits. But you also see moments of vulnerability in this first season, which is nice,” Kalyn says. “I was really trying to dig into slight insecurities that you wouldn’t have necessarily gotten in the book.”

Despite the passionate fandom around Dean from the novels, Kalyn never felt pressured to portray him exactly as he comes off on the page. “From the moment I go...