Jalen Thomas Brooks Talks Off Campus, Tucker’s Heart & The Hockey House

[00:00:08] This is Pop Culture Unplugged w/ Elias Giannakopoulos. Jalen, nice to see you again. Congratulations. Good to see you man. How are you doing? How are you doing? Is the big question. I'm doing okay. I'm doing great man. I'm doing great. Thanks for asking. It's good to see you again. Congrats on Off Campus. You know, the fan of the books, we're waiting for this man. How are you feeling about this? I'm excited. It's an honor to have such people being so, and anticipating the release of all

[00:00:33] this. It's something that you pray for as an actor is to be able to have this avenue. So extremely grateful, extremely humbled. It's lovely. For the people meeting Tucker for the first time, how would you describe him? What stood out you the most for this character? I'd say the best way to describe Tucker is he's the mother of the group, the peacemaker, the cook. He's kind of the glue guy, the athletes would say. He keeps the group together

[00:01:02] and everything. So he's that one friend that gets everybody to hang out when nobody wants to. So he's that guy. You mentioned the glue, because I wrote in my notes too, you know, glue of the hockey house. How did you approach building that dynamic with the rest of the cast and those scenes? I would say it was funny from the very get-go. One of our first things we ever did as a cast, like our first weekend when we were shooting, we all went to Antonio's house and I got all this

[00:01:27] food and I cooked for everybody. Because I actually cook like Tucker in real life. And we kind of just sensed that since getting everybody together and having like a barbecue and stuff. It was this thing that I kept doing of after set, let's go out and get some dinner. Let's go and just relax and video base camp for a second. And it was just, everybody kind of came together every single time and after shoots and stuff and just reconvened and stuff. So we try to keep that stuff. So what's the meal, what's the meal that everybody enjoyed?

[00:01:57] Oh, I made this like, uh, this brown sugar glazed thinly sliced top sirloin with some like sweet potato, uh, sweet potato rounds, asparagus, and then a mashed potato. I don't do mashed potatoes, potatoes, sweet potatoes, asparagus, that, and then ground beef. That's what it was. Yeah. It was all over the place. I like how the show, you know, mixes a lot of, you know, we have romance, humor, you know, some heavier emotional beats. Now for you, like, how did you balance, how did you balance Tucker

[00:02:27] with all those without, you know, getting lost in the mix too? Absolutely. I, it's Tucker, I think as a, as a, as a guy, he tries to be the happy go lucky. So the balancing of me as an actor, to me as an individual was like, oh, in these situations, Tucker would be looking to everybody else to make sure they're okay. He wouldn't necessarily be looking internal yet, you know, especially being the younger guy of the group saying, I want to make sure my, my, my, my boys are okay. Like, I want to make sure you guys are good. So being able to put it outwards instead of internal,

[00:02:56] which is lovely. You know, season one centers mostly on, you know, Garrett and Hannah too, you know, for you, like what's, what's Tucker Tucker's perspective on there and that relationship looking from the outside in? Oh man, that's a good question. I would say, uh, he just likes to see his, his, his brother Garrett happy. Um, and it's all, it's great to meet a new, meet a new friend like, uh, Hannah. Um, but I think he's just, uh, he's a big family guy.

[00:03:22] So I think whenever he sees any of his friends entering any type of romance, he's just like, heck yeah, that's great. Yeah. I mentioned earlier, you know, the books have a huge fan base, any pressure on you trying to jump into this character to, to make him stand out as your own? I don't know. I think that as pressure, I would say yes, because you know, book to screen adaptations come with all that, like everything. Um, and the, the, it's, it's an honor, but I would say, uh,

[00:03:50] it's me being an athlete in, uh, um, in my real life is kind of pressures of privilege, you know? So it's something that you want as an actor is to be able to live up to some expectation or to try to make a beloved character, uh, um, land a certain way. And it was something I was really happy to and honored to do and something I believe I did. I think, uh, uh, encapsulating and connecting to Tucker's heart is, uh, something I found. So it's, it's an honor to have that pressure for sure.

[00:04:18] So how would you tease his journey this season? I, this, uh, this season, I'd say, um, Tucker, I'd say he's becoming, he's finding this, uh, uh, the sense of, uh, being in college with, with these newly found friends and he he's becoming, he's going to become that, that young man that everybody knows. So, yeah. In the books, you know, he's got a pretty big arc down the road for you. How excited are you that you possibly could be having like, you know, your own series down the road?

[00:04:48] Yeah. Oh, it's super exciting, especially to do it alongside all these Belmont, Steven, Antonio, to do it with them. It's just, it's an honor. It's a blessing. Um, but super excited to keep on exploring Tucker, uh, fingers crossed. Um, but yeah, it's wonderful. If you were living in that hockey house yourself, who would be the worst roommate and why? Oh, uh, Steven, for sure. Dean, absolutely. Dean would be absolute crash out. Um, but Steven in real life, me and him,

[00:05:17] we always banter with each other. So we'd be fighting in roughhousing all the time. Yeah. Last question. Is there a specific episode that you can't wait for the viewers to see? Oh, I was, I'll give you two. I'd say episode five, uh, and everything. But I would say honestly, six. I don't think people are going to expect six. Six is going to throw people for a loop and, uh, show something really special what this series is going to keep on doing down the line is episode

[00:05:45] six. Yeah. Amazing. Joe, it was nice to catch up with you. Good luck with this series. Hope we see you get down the road. Absolutely, man. Always a pleasure, dude. Thank you.