Heated Rivalry creator Jacob Tierney is opening up about the responsibility he feels towards his stars as they gear up to film more of the erotic and revealing sex scenes the show is known for.
In a new interview with VMAN Magazine while doing press for his newly released book I’ll Believe in Anything: The Making of Heated Rivalry Season 1, which is a collection of annotated scripts that gives fans a window into how the show adapted Rachel Reid’s Game Changer series, Tierney revealed how he felt after stars Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie's naked bodies went viral the second the first two episodes of the show aired.
“The care I take is with Connor and Hudson,” he said. “Those are my friends. Those are my wards. I owe them a lot. We’re intertwined. Their wellbeing and safety are very important to me.”
Tierney is bringing that care into filming the intense sex scenes that will be a big part of the show's second season.
“We just had our intimacy rehearsals for season two,” he said. “We went through all the stuff that we’re going to go through again, and we try to make sure that they’re really comfortable.”
And luckily for fans, despite the intense scrutiny they are facing because of the popularity of the show, Williams and Storrie are still on board for filming the show’s unapologetically gay sex scenes.
“They’re still so close, and they’re so game,” Tierney said. “They love these roles. They love doing it. They understood, from day one, that this is important.”
Tierney said the sex scenes are important to all of them because they aren’t just about titillation, but storytelling as well. Shane and Ilya spend most of the show’s runtime being incapable of expressing their true feelings, so instead they reveal everything while they’re between the sheets (or pressed up against a shower wall).
“It’s not like they can’t find another guy with a great body or whatever,” he said. “So this physical connection isn’t just shallow. What they reveal about themselves when they’re together, when they’re not talking, is absolutely the whole relationship.”
Williams and Storrie were thrust into the limelight amid the success of Heated Rivalry’s first season, in large part because of the show’s combination of tender love story and erotic sex scenes, and Tierney admits he feels a responsibility to make sure they’re doing ok.
“I try to be very conscious that it hasn’t even been a year since this show’s been out, and they’re arguably two of the most famous people in the world,” he said. “It’s fucking crazy, and there’s nothing that can prepare you for that. There’s no handbook to it. So, we just check in a lot. ‘You good?’ ‘You need anything?’”
Heated Rivalry season 2 premieres in April 2027.
