Heated Rivalry is a Canadian sports romance television series created, written, and directed by Jacob Tierney for Crave. Based on the Game Changers book series by Rachel Reid, the show takes its title from the 2019 second installment. It 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, principal photography took place throughout Ontario; Hamilton served as a primary filming hub, standing in for locations such as New York and Moscow. Notable filming sites include Dundurn Castle, the FirstOntario Concert Hall, and the Sleeman Centre in Guelph for all on-ice sequences. The series had its preview screening at the Image+Nation LGBTQ+ Film Festival in Montreal on November 23, 2025. The first season premiered on Crave on November 28, with a simultaneous release on HBO Max in the United States, which had acquired the series for international distribution prior to the Canadian premiere. Prior to the first season's conclusion, Crave announced that a second season was in development, currently set for a Spring 2027 release, and intended to adapt Reid's 2022 sequel novel, The Long Game.
Heated Rivalry received critical acclaim, with particular praise for Tierney's direction, the writing, and the performances and chemistry between lead actors. 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 received numerous accolades. At the 14th Canadian Screen Awards, the series swept all of its categories, including Best Drama Series and Best Lead Performance in a Drama Series for Williams. It has also won a Peabody Award, a GLAAD Award, and the Television Critics Association Award for Program of the Year. Media outlets have described the series as a global sensation and a break-out hit.
Premise Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov are two professional ice hockey players who compete on rival fictional Major League Hockey teams, the Montreal Metros and Boston Raiders. 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 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 Season 1 Heated Rivalry is based on Rachel Reid's Game Changers novel series (2018–2027). 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... 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 with Kara Swisher, Brady revealed the budget was set to just under 3 million CAD (2.2 million USD) per episode.
Season 2 Tierney's creative executive at Crave, Rachel Goldstein, discouraged him from adapting Heated Rivalrys 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 was 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. Tierney later 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". Tierney has also stated that he plans to write a scene depicting Shane coming out to his team, an event that occurred off-page in the novel Heated Rivalry.
Casting Season 1 Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie lead the cast as Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov, respectively. Alongside them François Arnaud, Robbie G.K., Christina Chang, Dylan Walsh, Sophie Nélisse and Ksenia Daniela Kharlamova were cast. 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 casting 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.
Nadine Bhabha, who plays Elena, was the first person cast in the series. She is a friend of Tierney's, and was offered the role directly without an audition. Arnaud, another longtime friend of Tierney's, received a call from him personally, asking him if he had received the script yet and telling him: "I didn't write this for you, but I cannot hear anyone else's voice in my head when I read it". Arnaud was surprised, perceiving the script as soft pornography, but changed his mind after understanding how the sex scenes are used to drive the story forward. Christina Chang, who plays Yuna Hollander, initially shared Arnaud's sentiment. She remembered reading the scripts and thinking, "Is this soft core porn? What's happening? It's hot. What the heck is happening right now? This is amazing. It's like Fifty Shades of... Oh, my God!" Kharlamova, whose role as Svetlana was substantially redefined for the television adaptation, stated that she approached the character with the intention of challenging stereotypical portrayals of Russians in Western media, noting that Russia has "around 200 different ethnic groups" and is "such a big country with so many different cultural influences." She was "very happy to show a different side".
Season 2 On August 7, 2026, the casting of Charlie Gillespie and Justice Smith as Troy Barrett and Harris Drover, respectively, the protagonists of the fifth Game Changers novel Role Model, was announced. On August 13, 2026, Edvin Ryding was announced as Luca Haas, alongside Emily Hampshire as Vanessa, Robert Naylor as Wyatt Hayes, Sabrina Jalees as Farah Jalali, and Priyanka as Tarek. On August 25, 2026, Daniel Diemer and Shaheen Jafargholi were announced as Ryan Price and Fabian Salah, who are the protagonists of the third Game Changers novel Tough Guy, respectively. On September 3, 2026, Kevin Zegers, Paul Gross, and Milla Jovovich were announced as Coach Weibe, Commissioner Roger Crowell, and Dr. Galina Molchalina, respectively. On September 16, 2026, Brendan Morgan, David Tomlinson, Gerry Dee, Michelle Mylett, Lauren Chan, and Nick Stahl were announced as Zane Boodram, Cody Kent, Coach Cooper, Lisa, Gen, and Curtis Barrett, respectively.
Filming
Principal photography for the first season commenced in April 2025, with filming taking place across the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec for 36 days. The first day of shooting included Shane and Ilya's Las Vegas hotel room encounter, while the hockey rink scenes were completed over a week of filming near the end of the shoot. In Ontario, locations included Toronto and Hamilton, with Dundurn Castle in Hamilton used as a stand-in for Moscow during a jogging scene involving Ilya in the episode "Olympians", and the outdoor of the McMaster Burridge Gym serving as the setting for Ilya and Shane's first meeting in the opening of the episode "Rookies". Additional filming in Hamilton took place at FirstOntario Concert Hall, which was used for the Los Angeles party sequence during the MLH draft.
All hockey sequences, including locker rooms, ice surface, and stands were filmed at the Sleeman Centre in Guelph. A cast of real-life hockey players were used to fill in the team, including body doubles for close-up shots of the lead actors in action on the ice. Williams was doubled by Jonah De Simone, while Storrie was doubled by Ralph Taggart.