For Josh Heuston, romance is less about grand gestures than the rare comfort of being fully seen. It’s a sentiment that feels fitting for Off Campus, the buzzy new Prime Video college drama that has quickly become the internet’s latest obsession. Based on the bestselling book series, the show blends the heightened emotion of a classic campus soap with a surprisingly tender understanding of modern intimacy, centering on the messy relationships orbiting Briar University’s elite hockey team. While Season 1 follows the magnetic push-and-pull romance between songwriter Hannah and hockey captain Garrett, Heuston leaves a lasting impression as Justin – the brooding Australian musician whose quiet vulnerability lingers beneath the cool exterior.
Back in Australia to celebrate the release of the series everyone seems to be talking about, Heuston spoke with our Peter Gray with striking thoughtfulness about his creative process, from building elaborate emotional histories for his characters to covering his walls with handwritten notes while filming. In conversation, he reflects on why tangible connection still matters in an era of curated identities and disposable communication, the emotional contradictions that make characters feel real, and why love, at its core, might simply be about finding someone who sees both the polished version of yourself and the unguarded one underneath.
I read that when you build a character, you create a full backstory from their earliest memory up until the first page of the script. What was Justin’s earliest memory in your mind?
I often pick a memory from them being a child. With Justin, because he’s Australian, I was trying to link that why he has an Australian accent. His mum is never referenced in the show at all, but his dad is, so I was trying to pinpoint a memory to his mum, which, I think, shows why – vulnerability wise – he puts a lot into his music. Yeah, I guess just his relationship with love and all those things.
I understand you write every day, and you physically journal a lot, which feels very old-fashioned in the best way. Do you think that that handwriting accesses a more honest part of you in the creative process?
Yeah, I guess there’s something more tangible about it. Whenever I’m filming something, if you’re ever in my house, there’s post-it notes all over the walls that I’ve handwritten about the character or (a) scene and how that relates to another scene. I guess it keeps me on the timeline or the trajectory that I’m trying to articulate. If you write something on your laptop and it’s not in front of you, I feel like it kind of disappears. Having it physically there, you can’t help but look at it.
There is something fascinating about that contrast between your process and the modern dating culture. Because you journal, you write letters, you create deeply detailed internal histories. Since so much of modern communication is fast and disposable and curated, do you think that tension is a part of why you connected to a romantic like Justin?
Yeah. I like being able to feel it and touch it, and I feel like you lose a lot of that in dating on apps. Sending a text is very different to giving someone a note or anything like that. Even just swiping right, as opposed to buying someone a drink at a bar. I think it’s very different. It makes me sound like I’m in the 1950s or some shit (laughs), but I feel like it’s way more enjoyable. Those memories hit a lot harder.
I know you’ve said that essentially you “faked it until you made it” musically for the audition. That honesty feels very actor-coded. Has acting taught you confidence is sometimes just commitment?
Yeah, I feel like anything in life, especially if you’re going to be going into anything creative, there’s no guarantee of success or a salary, or a back-up plan in a lot of ways. I think you just gotta throw down. With this project, I lied, and I guess it worked. But that’s also maybe not great advice to just tell people to lie to get what you want. I am fortunate enough to have a foolish belief that I can kind of figure something out, and with (Off Campus) I knew I’d be silly not to give it everything.
Looking at your performances, there’s this duality where the characters appear cool externally, but internally there’s probably a lot more emotional restless. Is that something you’ve consciously gravitated towards?
Yeah, I find it more interesting when the classic jock character or the cool rock star on campus has that confident exterior, but then internally they’re insecure or nervous, or scared to approach a girl, or whatever it might be. I feel like it adds a layer that makes it real, because I don’t think anyone that externally is hyper-confident isn’t freaking out internally about things – whether it be public speaking or music. Everyone’s scared of (something).
And this show has already become a whole thing. It’s crazy. But it’s obviously very much about romantic connection. Do you think romance is ultimately less about chemistry and more about being seen properly by another person?
I feel like the ultimate form of chemistry, or love, is a comfortability. You just feel fully seen by the person, and there’s no insecurity. It could be your ugliest day, it could be your best day, it’s the feeling that stays consistent. With a world where everything is polished and edited or face-tuned, or whatever it might be, it’s that essence of things. If someone’s attractive going on a night out to you, and then they’re attractive when you wake up in the morning…it’s the good and the bad.
All eight episodes of Off Campus are available to stream on Prime Video from May 13th, 2026.
