Heated Rivalry

Heated Rivalry is a Canadian sports romance television series created, written, and directed by Jacob Tierney for Crave. It is based on the Game Changers novel series by Rachel Reid, named after the second book. The series stars Hudson Williams as Shane Hollander and Connor Storrie as Ilya Rozanov, two professional hockey players who maintain a secret, long-term romantic relationship while playing for rival teams. The ensemble cast includes François Arnaud, Robbie G.K., Christina Chang, Ksenia Daniela Kharlamova, Sophie Nélisse, and Dylan Walsh.

Produced by Accent Aigu Entertainment and Bell Media, the series had its preview screening at the Image+Nation LGBTQ+ Film Festival in Montreal, Quebec, Canada on November 23, 2025. Principal photography took place throughout Ontario, with Hamilton serving as a primary filming hub to stand in for locations such as New York and Moscow. Notable sites include Dundurn Castle, the FirstOntario Concert Hall, and the Sleeman Centre in Guelph for all on-ice sequences. The first season then premiered on Crave on November 28, 2025; it aired concurrently on HBO Max, who had acquired the series for an international release nine days prior to the Canadian premiere. It was additionally distributed via Neon and Movistar Plus+.

Heated Rivalry received critical acclaim, with praise for the directing, writing, and the lead actors' performances and chemistry. It became the most-watched original series on Crave and was reported as the highest-performing acquired, non-animated debut on HBO Max. The series has been described by media outlets as a global sensation and a break-out critical hit. Following the conclusion of the first season, Crave announced that a second season was in development, intended to adapt Reid's 2022 sequel novel, The Long Game.

Premise

Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov are two professional ice hockey players who compete on rival teams, the fictional Montreal Metros and Boston Raiders, respectively, which is based on the real-life rivalry between the Boston Bruins and the Montreal Canadiens in the National Hockey League (NHL), the basis for the fictional Major League Hockey (MLH) association in the show. Although their on-ice rivalry is amplified by media coverage and public perception, the two develop a private, initially casual sexual relationship that continues intermittently over several years as they pursue their hockey careers.

Cast and characters

Main

Featured

• Trevor Hayes as Boston General Manager
• Kaden Connors as Sasha, Ilya's former sexual partner and the son of Ilya's former coach
• Harrison Browne as Connors, Ilya's teammate
• Devante Senior as Miles, Rose's friend and co-star

Recurring

• Arthur Moukhortov as Sorren Miitka, Shane's teammate and the Metros' goaltender
• Vitali Makarov as Sergei Vetrov, the Russian Minister of Interior, former Soviet goaltender and Svetlana's father

Guest

• Aidan Shaw as Kolya Andropov, Shane's teammate
• Wayne Ward as Tom
• Billie Mary Silas and Sam Nicole Silas as Ruby and Emma Pike, Hayden and Jackie's daughters
• Foster Blake as Maxime, the bartender at Le Tambour
• Tyrone Edwards as himself
• Lainey Lui as herself

Episodes

Production

Development

Heated Rivalry is based on Rachel Reid's Game Changers novel series (2018–2026), with the second novel, Heated Rivalry (2019), providing the series' title. Reid drew inspiration from the real-life rivalry between Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin for the book. She also cited Jaromír Jágr, Teemu Selänne, and Ilya Kovalchuk as other inspirations for the character of Ilya Rozanov, as well as Wayne Gretzky and Paul Kariya for the character of Shane Hollander.

Jacob Tierney first reached out to Reid on August 7, 2023, a day after The Washington Post ran an article about hockey romance novels. He had listened to the Game Changers series on audio book and wanted to discuss the possibility of adapting them to a limited television series. Tierney initially had doubts about whether the story could be adapted while retaining the books' sexually explicit content. Though queer romances such as the young adult adaptation Heartstopper had risen in popularity, Tierney said "the thing that is so fundamentally different in Heated Rivalry is sex. And so I was like 'okay, will anyone want this with that?' And the thing that was very obvious to me is that they were inseparable. Sex is character development; it's not just a random sex scene in every episode. [The lead characters] learn about each other and they learn about themselves through this". When meeting with potential financiers for the show, Tierney and co-producer Brendan Brady said they were met with studio notes that wanted to "fundamentally change the story, or fundamentally change the tone".

In January 2025, it was first announced that Crave picked up the show off a spec script by Tierney. This was confirmed by Reid on her blog. In March 2025, a month before production began, UK-based distributor Sphere Abacus stepped in to finance alongside Crave and Bell Media, ensuring that Tierney's vision for the show remained intact. In June 2025, it was officially announced at the Bell Media Upfront that the series would be streamed on Crave. Tierney created, wrote, and directed the series. He also serves as an executive producer alongside Brendan Brady through their production banner Accent Aigu Entertainment. Lori Fischburg is a producer of the series, and Reid is a consulting producer.

In a podcast interview Brady revealed, to Kara Swisher, that the budget was set to just under 3 million CAD (2.2 million USD) per episode.

Season two

Tierney's creative executive at Crave, Rachel Goldstein, discouraged him from adapting Heated Rivalry's epilogue into the series, as it could have been perceived as setting up a second season that had not been confirmed at the time. On December 12, 2025, it was announced that the series has been renewed for a second season by Crave, with HBO Max returning as a key distribution partner. The renewal follows strong viewer interest and streaming performance during the first season's rollout. The agreement also includes expanded distribution deals, with rights for season two secured across multiple international markets via Warner Bros. Discovery's distribution arm and other partners. It is set to adapt The Long Game (2022), the sixth book of the Game Changers series, which serves as a sequel to Heated Rivalry. However, ten days later, Tierney told Variety that the second season would not premiere at the same time the following year, citing slower progress on the episode scripts. He also told The Hollywood Reporter that, although he would direct all episodes of the second season, it is a possibility that "other writers will come in to help [him] out".

Casting

Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie lead the cast as Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov, respectively, alongside François Arnaud, Robbie G.K., Christina Chang, Dylan Walsh, Sophie Nélisse and Ksenia Daniela Kharlamova. Williams and Storrie signed on for three seasons. Both actors were working as restaurant waiters prior to being cast. Tierney said it was essential to him that he found two actors who had the "physicality of hockey players" who were also comfortable with nudity and intimacy. He also said he wanted to find them together since "the show lives and dies on their relationship". Tierney expressed that Williams and Storrie had chemistry that was obvious from the first read, even though it was over Zoom. Casting was conducted by directors Jenny Lewis and Sara Kay.

Storrie revealed he had auditioned for the role shirtless, even though that had not been required. Williams was the third actor he had a chemistry read with, while Williams read with one other possible actor. When Tierney asked Storrie about his impression, he suggested Williams. Similarly, Williams felt an "inexplicable X-factor" about Storrie, telling Tierney: "The other guy was good, but Connor [Storrie] felt like he was going to pin me down and fuck me". In a December 2025 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Williams stated that he portrayed the character of Shane as autistic after receiving confirmation from Reid that the character was on the autism spectrum. Williams cited his own father, who is on the spectrum, as an inspiration.