Hunter Davenport, aka Carter St James, was the surprise no Off Campus fan saw coming when season one of the hit show debuted on Prime Video in May.
Responsible for more than a scream-worthy finale cliffhanger, his character, played by Charlie Evans, also gave us one of the most intoxicating moments of the show: the chair pull.
First appearing as Carter St James in episode seven, the smouldering stranger offers to prove to Joanna that Allie (played by Mika Abdalla) is capable of a fling by kissing the aspiring actress right there at the bar.
Much to our delight, when we sat down to chat to Evans about the show, season two and that chair pull, the 22-year-old revealed the now infamous moment was completely improvised.
“We needed to be closer for that and I didn’t really feel like leaning that far, so we just kind of did it in the moment,” Evans tells marie claire Australia exclusively. “It looked right and it felt great and it didn’t interfere with the shot, so we just kept it in.”
A stunningly improvised chair pull is only as good as the chemistry between the couple sitting on them and Evans and Abdalla have it in spades. The Byron-bay born actor has nothing but praise for his Off Campus scene partner’s commitment to her craft.
“Mika is so funny and so open and willing to try things out and play a scene a million different ways. She’s so good at saying yes and exploring things, which we did,” he recalls.
“We kind of just went through that scene instinctually and that was sort of the final product, was whatever we felt in the moment. It didn’t really need much adjusting, which was nice.”
The chemistry between the pair also has fans (even more) rabid for season two of the show.
Following the season one finale reveal that Carter St James was actually Hunter, the mysterious nemesis of Dean Di Laurentis (Stephen Kalyn), audiences are predicting a tumultuous love triangle ahead.
“Louisa has a really cool plan for season two and I’m excited for people to see Hunter in it and especially Dean now,” Evans teases.
“I think Hunter and Dean have a really interesting dynamic right now, and it can go a hundred different ways.”
Keeping his character’s true identity hidden before season one aired was no easy feat, we discovered. In fact, the reveal also came as a surprise to Evans until he landed the role.
“I auditioned under Carter St. James and so I didn’t know it was Hunter until I got the part,” he recalls.
“I really had to be conscious of staying out of photos and not following anyone and being wary of what I liked on social media and like, nothing to do with the show. Nothing to do with being in Canada, just like radio silence.”
It worked. The season one cliffhanger, which was a strong pivot from the storyline told in the books, thrilled fans (me). Not only does the introduction of Hunter offer a new depth to Allie and Dean’s relationship but also a new hurdle to overcome. Plus, Booktok can’t wait to see what a jealous Dean would look like.
Coming into season two, with production now underway in Canada, Evans hopes we get to see a softer side to Hunter.
“He feels like a very constructed, very meticulously represented character and how he puts himself together — what he wears, how he dresses, how he speaks. I would love to see him kind of break that down and have more of that empathy and not be so afraid to kind of build that raw connection with people.”
It’s a very enticing possibility for the fandom (again, me), particularly given Hunter becomes the lead of his own Off Campus book, the third in the Briar U spin-off, titled The Play.
I can’t help but ask the actor whether the prospect of getting his own season in the record-breaking adaptation comes into how he portrays Hunter. “I think it’d be really exciting to see Hunter’s story and kind of flesh out a different side of that world that isn’t a part of our main sort of cast of guys that we know so well and maybe see like a wider view of this network of stories that she’s built,” Evans says.
Then he adds the words every Off Campus fan wants to hear: “Louisa said, ‘We’ll keep making it as long as people want it.’ If there’s a desire for it and there’s a need for it, then it’ll be there.”
Off Campus is available to stream exclusively on Prime Video in Australia.
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