Prime Video Hit Off Campus Loses Josh Heuston for Season 2 — Justin Kohl Won’t Be Back

Prime Video snagged something a bit rare this spring with Off Campus. You might've noticed how it shot to the top of the US streaming charts within a week of landing—managed to topple The Boys, no less. The show's a hockey-romance yarn, heavy on the snogging and banter, binge-able to the point it got renewed for a second season months before the first series even aired. That’s not your standard TV rollout; that’s confidence bordering on cocky, if we’re being truthful.

Now comes the awkward bit before everyone’s back on campus. For the second series, Off Campus is losing a fairly major face—not a supporting pal or background mate you won’t miss, but one of the core trio who drove the entire Season 1 romance. To be blunt: Justin Kohl, the sensitive, guitar-strumming uni student (played by Aussie actor Josh Heuston), won’t be returning for the next run.

Both showrunner Louisa Levy and Heuston himself have said the same thing in different interviews—he’s not popping up this series, but no bridges have been burnt. Levy puts it down to a clash of schedules, not some dramatic rewriting or behind-the-scenes spat. Her chat with TV Guide was carefully worded:
'Not 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.' She even pointed out a little detail from the Elle Kennedy novels the show’s based on—we haven’t met Stella yet (the character Justin ends up with on the page). So there’s narrative room for this to get reversed later if everyone’s diaries line up.

As for Heuston, he chatted to Variety Australia and was more direct about it: 'At this stage, no,' he said about a return—quickly following with a 'we’ll see.' For the record, he only had nice things to say about slotting straight in as the token Aussie and about the set’s commitment to keeping close to Kennedy’s original books. Ironically, it’s sticking with the books that’s actually written Justin out for now.

What’s Actually Changing for Season 2?

Off Campus was never going to do a complete rerun of its first batch of episodes. In a move that’ll be very familiar to anyone who’s watched Bridgerton, the new story switches central couples but keeps everyone else from Briar University swirling about the campus. The season finale already set up Hannah’s mate Allie Hayes (Mika Abdalla) and cocky hockey lad Dean Di Laurentis (Stephen Kalyn) as the next big thing—and, frankly, the show had already wrapped up the love triangle that Justin was part of. So most fans might just shrug and move on.

Here’s the odd bit: the writers are skipping the second book entirely and going straight to the third. Kennedy’s own second novel, The Mistake (which is all about Grace Ivers and John Logan, played by India Fowler and Antonio Cipriano), is being leapfrogged in favour of The Score, focusing on Allie and Dean. Levy reckons this jump keeps the momentum up—she wanted Hannah and Garrett’s happy ending intact and something unfinished dangling for the new plot. In her words, Justin belongs to a love triangle that’s been sorted, so he’s a loose thread they don’t need to worry about at the moment.

For the Curious: What Else Has Josh Heuston Been In?

• He broke out in Netflix’s Heartbreak High reboot as Dusty Reid.
• Starred as Constantine Corrino in HBO’s Dune: Prophecy.
• Popped up in Dangerous Animals, a Jai Courtney psychological thriller that got rave reviews from critics last year.

Amazon’s got no reason to fret. Off Campus is still pulling in a 96% critics’ score and a very healthy 89% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Season 2 has its sights on a mid-2027 release. Whether Justin makes a reappearance when Stella arrives is up to scheduling, scripts and possibly fate, but Levy’s made sure fans are left dangling on that particular question.