WARNING: If you're looking to avoid Heated Rivalry plot spoilers, stop reading now and instead check out Out's guide on who's in the new cast for season two.
But good news for anyone who's already read all of Rachel Reid’s Game Changer book series, the source material for Heated Rivalry... you are ahead of the game! The producers of HBO Max and Crave’s gay romance streaming series tell The Hollywood Reporter that fans already have most of the answers.
"What's so funny about the level of secrecy is like there’s a book — you can just look at it," said out gay creator, writer and director Jacob Tierney when asked about Reid's novels, which the show is adapted from. "It'll tell you honestly, 90 percent of what you’d like to know is in that book."
Tierney and his producing partner Brendan Brady say the queer hockey drama’s second season is not so much about plot twists as it is about the characters exploring their feelings.
"This show is not built on secrets. It’s built on feelings and sensation," Tierney said. "It’s a very visceral show. It’s very sensual in that way, and it’s all in the execution of it."
ICYMI, season one of the series was about two hockey rivals who develop a passionate, secret, long-term romantic relationship. It was heavily inspired by Reid’s second novel in the Game Changers series, which introduced the story of Shane Hollander, played by Hudson Williams, and Ilya Rozanov portrayed by Connor Storrie. As Out has reported, Tierney also borrowed elements and characters from the series' first book, featuring Scott Hunter (played by François Arnaud) and Kip Grady (played by Robbie G.K.).
They're being coy as to specifics but only because there’s not much left to hide to any avid readers, the producers say.
Tierney said the show will focus on Shane and Ilya’s love story using the details established in Reid’s sixth book, The Long Game. The rivals turned lovers are now in a committed relationship and learning about building a life together while still hiding everything from the public.
There will also be storylines drawn from book five, Role Model, which Reid fans will recognize as taking place in the same timeline as The Long Game. Her fifth book focused on another professional hockey player named Troy Barrett who is traded to the Ottawa Centaurs, and Harris Drover, the team’s social media manager. As Out reported, Charlie Gillespie was cast as Troy and Justice Smith plays Harris.
Those new additions were cast, Tierney told THR, "To make sure that we’re putting couples together that we think are going to just shine on the screen." But at least one casting decision has fans of the books criticizing the choice of Justice Smith. They claim he's not the way Reid depicted Harris, "as stockier and less conventionally athletic-looking than his book counterpart," the report said. Reid herself addressed that critique on Instagram by saying, "Thinking about all the people last summer who told me the casting for Ilya and Shane was wrong and bad."
In speaking with THR, Tierney noted that even though the show borrows heavily from Reid's work, he and Brady don't mean to withhold the plot from their fanbase. "This is not the usual suspects. Like, we’re not trying to hide a villain from you... there are books, read them, and then make two guesses, three guesses, and I bet two of them will be right," he said.
Season two was written by Tierney and cowriter Mike Goldbach of Ontario, known for Mayfair Witches and On Becoming a God in Central Florida. "Mike is such a good writer, and he’s been so amazingly helpful to me," Tierney said, "We’re very happy with where we’re at with the scripts. We’re really happy with this cast."
Tierney was asked if they'd be adding characters or plot lines from Reid’s fourth novel in the series, Common Goal. Kyle Swift, the bartender at a gay sports bar played by out queer actor Matthew Finlan, whose brief appearance in the first season of Heated Rivalry delighted fans.
"I’ve never experienced fandom like this before, and I have to just trust myself the way I trusted myself last time," he said. "I'm gonna try to make the best show I can make, that’s really all I can do. I can never make everybody happy at the same time. I hope I can make a majority of you happy, and I hope you also just cut me the slack to wait and see."
Heated Rivalry season two is in production and is expected to stream on HBO Max and Crave in Spring 2027.
