Josh Heuston’s First Role After Surprising Departure from Campus Unveiled
Although fans will not see Josh Heuston in the second season of Off Campus, the actor has been keeping busy with his first role since his surprising departure.
Heuston, 29, is set to star in the upcoming film adaptation of Lauren Asher‘s Throttled, which is based on her Dirty Air book series. Directed by Nzingha Stewart and penned by Melissa Osborne, the film will be produced by Elizabeth Banks, Maz Handelman, Garrett Grant, Jennifer Gibgot, and Andrew Panay of Ethea Entertainment. Asher will also take on the role of executive producer along with Alison Small.
The Dirty Air series by Asher consists of four interconnected romance novels, all set against the backdrop of professional car racing. The series debuted in 2020 with Throttled, followed by Collided (2020), Wrecked (2020), and Redeemed (2021).
In the novel Throttled, Heuston portrays the up-and-coming driver Noah Slade, who is involved in a forbidden romance with Maya Alatorre, the sister of one of his rivals.
Heuston gained popularity after Off Campus premiered on Prime Video. The first season, which launched in May, revolved around the compelling “opposites attract” romance between quiet songwriter Hannah and Briar University’s all-star hockey player, Garrett. Alongside lead actors Ella Bright and Belmont Cameli, Heuston played Justin, a character who quickly captured audience attention.
Despite Hannah’s (played by Bright) attraction to Justin, her bond with Garrett (Cameli) proved to be stronger, leading her to choose the latter. Nonetheless, Justin still had storylines left unexplored before it was announced that Heuston would not be returning for season 2.
Creator Louisa Levy told TV Guide at the time, “He is not [in] 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. We never got a chance to meet Stella, who is the person he ends up with in the book. So maybe we’ll find a way to fold him into a future season.”
Levy also mentioned that it was not originally intended for Justin to be absent. “We don’t have him [available] next season, but never say never,” she added.
Heuston is also set to star opposite Ryan Corr in a Biblical horror-thriller titled The First Exorcist, which draws inspiration from accounts in the Gospels and follows the story of Alexios.
Before the announcement of his exit as Justin, Heuston shared with Us in May, “That’s above my pay grade but I just hope Justin finds love and continues to be happy while writing music.” He expressed hope that Justin would manage “all right” in his journey.
“Justin is following his heart. He’s a little lover boy at heart,” Heuston remarked. “I think things went the way that they went, but I think he’ll just continue to do that. He’ll probably go write some nice music about how heartbroken he is and then come back and try to find his love.”
At the time, Heuston imagined Justin yearning for “someone else” in the future.
“I just tried to give Justin as much as possible. A lot of the time, if you fell into a stereotype of another cool guy that does music on campus, you wouldn’t have that love or affinity for him,” he explained to Us. “My main thing was just trying to make him as good as possible.”
Off Campus is currently available for streaming on Prime Video.
