“Off Campus”' Mika Abdalla Breaks Down That 'Heated' Finale Cliffhanger and Teases Season 2 (Exclusive)

Warning: This story contains spoilers for the season 1 finale ofOff Campus.

NEED TO KNOW

• Season 1 of Off Campus leaves off with a major cliffhanger involving Allie (Mika Abdalla) and Dean (Stephen Kalyn)

• Abdalla breaks down what's to come for Allie after that twist and teases season 2 as she reveals she's received the first two scripts: "It's all very real"

• Off Campus is now streaming on Prime Video

There's a bit of a mess on Allie Hayes's hands at the end ofOff Campusseason 1.

After getting involved with Dean (Stephen Kalyn) — Allie and Dean are the subject of the third book inElle Kennedy's series,The Score, and season 1 of the Prime Video show adapted the first book,The Deal— after her breakup with Sean (Riley Davis), Allie started to panic about falling back into old patterns. In the hopes of slowing things down between her and Dean, she suggested they both sleep with other people, and then she slept with the mysterious Carter St. James (Charlie Evans), whom she'd previously kissed, after running into him on campus.

In the final moments of season 1, Carter walked into Malone's and a nightmare unfolded for Allie. Dean put the pieces together that she had slept with Carter, just after he revealed that he didn't want to see other people, and Carter St. James's true identity was revealed: he's actually Hunter Davenport, the protagonist of Kennedy'sThe Play, a book in herOff Campusspinoff series,Briar U.

"We were all surprised by it,"Mika Abdalla, who plays Allie, tells PEOPLE of the twist. "I think it's really great. "It's really fun to throw someone else into the mix for Allie, just fresh out of her relationship, freaking out about this relationship [with Dean]."

"It's nice to pump the brakes a little bit," Abdalla, 26, says. "I'm excited to see what goes on from there, because that's a pretty heated way to end the season."

She reveals the season was originally "supposed to end differently, and then we had to change that, for reasons that will be revealed later," and the Hunter twist was instead introduced.

Hunter's arrival in the series was "like the freaking nuclear codes," Abdalla says. "We needed to not talk about that. No one was allowed to know who that man was, which was hilarious." The cast was explicitly told not to "follow" Evans on social media or otherwise engage with him to avoid spoiling his arrival. "We weren't allowed to do a freaking thing with that man. They kept it locked up."

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Showrunner Louisa Levy tells PEOPLE that the decision to bring Hunter into the fold "allowed us to tee up potential future seasons that we might be able to explore, and also tee up a little bit of Dean's backstory that we might be able to get into in future seasons as well."

As she points out, Hunter is a character that appears inThe Score,Dean and Allie's book, "just in a small way," so she and the writers found it a "fun opportunity" to "pull from the later books and use those characters to build out" the world on the college campus. "I have no idea how fans are going to react to it, but I'm very excited to see."

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Off Campuswas renewed forseason 2before season 1 premiered, but Prime Video has not yet confirmed which couple it'll follow. On her character's behalf, Abdalla says she is "not excited" about the next installment, as she anticipates some major challenges for Allie. "I am excited about it as an actor," she says. "I am excited for the deep emotional turmoil that Allie is going through, because I think that'll be a lot of fun [to play], and that's not really something I got to play around with too, too much this season."

"I am excited to see the inner workings of her. It's really fun to play such a vibrant, larger-than-life character, who also has these extremely deep feelings about herself and the world around her. It's such a balance," Abdalla continues. "I'm excited to do the puzzle of Allie."

Abdalla has received scripts for the first two episodes of season 2, she confirms, which is "very exciting," and the cast returns to Vancouver to start filming shortly. "It's all very real," she says of the next installment.

Off Campusseason 1 is now streaming on Prime Video.

Read the original article onPeople

bySator Tenet

in

May 15, 2026

“Off Campus”' Mika Abdalla Breaks Down That 'Heated' Finale Cliffhanger and Teases Season 2 (Exclusive)

Warning: This story contains spoilers for the season 1 finale ofOff Campus. NEED TO KNOW Season 1 of Off Campus leaves...

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Suzette Charles Criticizes Miss America 42 Years After Inheriting Crown from Vanessa Williams Due to Nude Photo Scandal

Suzette Charles was crowned Miss America 1984 about 10 months after she placed as the runner-up at the pageant, coming in just behind winner Vanessa Williams

NEED TO KNOW

• After Williams was forced to resign following a nude photo scandal, Charles inherited the crown, becoming the second Black woman to be named Miss America (also after Williams, who became the first Black winner)

• In an interview with The Guardian over 40 years later, Charles condemned the organization's response to Williams' scandal and criticized the pageant system more broadly

Suzette Charlesis looking at pageantry with a more critical eye, over 40 years after she held the coveted title of Miss America.

The singer and actress, 63, placed as the runner-up at Miss America in 1984, finishing just behindVanessa Williams, who made history as the first Black woman to wear the sash. Williams, now 63, wasforced to resign after her nude photos— which she had taken years prior and under the promise of anonymity — were sold and published inPenthousemagazine without her consent. Charles then inherited the crown, making her the second Black woman to be named Miss America.

Decades later, the former contestant looked back on her journey to the national stage in an interview withThe Guardian. It started after she won Miss New Jersey at the state level. She remembered feeling "shocked" that she lost: "I thought my performance was stellar," Charles told the outlet.

Speaking toThe Guardianfor the profile published on Friday, May 15, Charles criticized Miss America officials for their response to the scandal, knocking the pageant organization for punishing Williams "so many months later."

Charles described her crowning as "a bittersweet acceptance," and she expressed disapproval with the storied contest more broadly.

“The initial plan was to empower women, but we're in a different phase," she said in the interview. "I think it's probably time to say goodbye.”

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Williams spoke to PEOPLE about her fall from Miss America glory in 2024, about eight years after she returned to the pageant to serve as the head judge for the Miss America 2016 pageant.

“There was a tremendous amount of onus, pressure, shame, judgment,” Williams said, thinking back on the scandal that dominated the world's news cycle for weeks. “I took all that on as a 21-year-old. It was global. You can fail quietly, but that was a worldwide fail.”

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To mark her appearance on the judging panel, then-CEO of Miss America Sam Haskell issued a public apology to Williams.

“I have been a close friend to this beautiful and talented lady for 32 years,” he said. “You have lived your life in grace and dignity and never was it more evident than during the events of 1984 when you resigned.

Haskell continued, “Though none of us currently in the organization were involved then on behalf of today's organization I want to apologize to you and to your mother Ms. Helen Williams. I want to apologize for anything that was said or done that made you feel any less the Miss America you are and the Miss America you always will be.”

Read the original article onPeople

bySator Tenet

in

May 15, 2026

Suzette Charles Criticizes Miss America 42 Years After Inheriting Crown from Vanessa Williams Due to Nude Photo Scandal

Suzette Charles was crowned Miss America 1984 about 10 months after she placed as the runner-up at the pageant, coming in just behind w...

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John Travolta Tears Up as He’s Surprised with Palme d’Or at Cannes Film Festival: 'This Is Beyond the Oscar'

John Travolta received an honorary Palme d’Or at Cannes while premiering his directorial debut, Propeller One-Way Night Coach

NEED TO KNOW

• The movie is based on a book he wrote for his late son, Jett

• Travolta walked the red carpet with his daughter Ella Bleu Travolta, who stars in the movie

John Travoltacame intoCannes Film Festivalexpecting to premiere his directorial debut,Propeller One-Way Night Coach, but is walking away with something he hadn't dreamed of: an honorary Palme d’Or.

Festival head Thierry Frémaux surprised Travolta, 72, with the prestigious award onstage at the Debussy Theater on Friday, May 15, calling him "one of the greatest actors" deserving of an award.

"I can't believe this. This is the last thing I expected," Travolta said, getting visibly teary-eyed. "You said this would be a special night, but I didn’t think you meant this. This is a humbling moment. This is beyond the Oscar.”

Propeller One-Way Night Coachis based on Travolta's 1997 book of the same name, about an 8-year-old boy named Jeff who loves aviation and takes a cross-country flight with his mom to Hollywood. Travolta wrote the book for his late son,Jett.

"When I met with [Frémaux] in November, I had no expectation that my film would be accepted, and when Thierry said it was ... making history because it would be the first film being accepted that early, I cried like a baby," Travolta said while accepting the award.

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Earlier that evening, Travolta walked the red carpet alongside the film's cast, which includes his daughter,Ella Bleu Travoltaas well as Clark Shotwell, Kelly Eviston-Quinnett and Olga Hoffmann.

"This is the blueprint of my life and everyone that was in the movie is sitting in the audience right there, my family, and this is why this film exists and why I exist as an artist because of that group of people right there," Travolta said of the movie.

Hours earlier, Travolta and Ella arrived in style as the actor piloted his own flight to France, joking that champagne for all aboard was "on me." The actor posted a snippet of him announcing the flight to the passengers onInstagramafter sharing that he was "really excited" to debut his movie in Cannes.

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Propeller One-Way Night Coachreleases on AppleTV on May 29.

Read the original article onPeople

bySator Tenet

in

May 15, 2026

John Travolta Tears Up as He’s Surprised with Palme d’Or at Cannes Film Festival: 'This Is Beyond the Oscar'

John Travolta received an honorary Palme d’Or at Cannes while premiering his directorial debut, Propeller One-Way Night Coach NEE...

Read More