Prime Video’s first season of the highly anticipated Off Campus series dropped on May 13, and while there was a lot to freak out about, fans are still losing it over a certain back tattoo that’s been present since the show first released the trailer back in April — namely, Garrett’s upper back tattoo. But what does it mean?
Season one of Off Campus follows popular Briar University hockey player Garrett Graham and music student Hannah Wells, the main characters of Elle Kennedy’s 2015 novel The Deal. When Garrett asks Hannah to tutor him, she agrees on the condition that he helps her get her crush, Justin, to reciprocate her feelings. The students agree to fake date to get Justin’s attention, but ultimately, they end up falling for each other. While the show follows Kennedy’s plot, there are a few details that are completely new — one of them being Garrett’s new back tattoo.
Spread across his shoulder blades, Garrett’s tattoo is a Latin phrase reading “Nullum Gratuitum Prandium,” which directly translates to “there is no free lunch.” While this may sound nonsensical at first, the phrase actually has a very intentional connection to the show’s plot and Garrett’s character. On a deeper level, the text essentially means that everything has a cost, and nobody will hand you anything for free.
While Garrett has tattoos in Kennedy’s book The Deal, an upper back tattoo with a Latin phrase is never mentioned. Belmont Cameli, the actor who plays Garrett, had a heavy hand in pitching the idea of the tattoo to the creative leads of the Prime Video series. In fact, the phrase was his mantra on his high school’s wrestling team. He wanted the ink to be placed on his shoulders so there was a direct correlation between the words and his athletic career.
“Having it across his back, I thought was a nice place for it because when he has the jersey on, it says Graham right there,” Cameli said in an interview with Teen Vogue. “But when he peels the jersey off, just on his own skin, you get to see that phrase really encapsulate who he is.”
Cameli wants the tattoo to highlight Garrett’s desire to deserve his achievements, rather than have them just given to him for no reason. However, viewers have also speculated that the ink could be a nod to the fact that Garrett and Hannah’s deal comes at a cost for both of them. Garrett is forced to give up his noncommittal, playboy lifestyle so he can be loyal to fake dating Hannah. Whereas Hannah, an introverted type, is truly pushed out of her comfort zone.
By including Garrett’s new ink in the show adaptation, it’s clear that Off Campus is adding layers to Kennedy’s iconic original story, and being intentional with even the smallest details of the show.