{"id":395174,"date":"2026-01-08T02:24:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T02:24:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/395174\/"},"modified":"2026-01-08T02:24:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T02:24:08","slug":"cast-to-appear-on-jimmy-fallon-seth-meyers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/395174\/","title":{"rendered":"Cast to appear on Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Stars of the hockey drama \u201cHeated Rivalry\u201d are heading to U.S. late-night television this month, marking a high-profile moment for the Canadian-made series as it continues to build international momentum.<\/p>\n

Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie, who play rival professional hockey players in the adaptation of Rachel Reid\u2019s bestselling novel, are set to appear on NBC\u2019s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon<\/a> and Late Night With Seth Meyers<\/a> later this month. <\/p>\n

The interviews mark the first late-night appearances for any cast member from the series, which was originally developed for Bell Media\u2019s Crave.<\/p>\n

Williams, who portrays Canadian forward Shane Hollander, is scheduled to sit down with Fallon on Wednesday. Storrie, who plays Russian sniper Ilya Rozanov, will appear on Late Night with Seth Meyers on Monday, Jan. 12.<\/p>\n

The late-night bookings underscore the rapid rise of the six-episode series based on Reid\u2019s 2019 novel from her \u201cGame Changers\u201d book franchise. Written by the Nova Scotia-based author, the story follows two elite hockey players whose fierce on-ice rivalry gives way to a secret, years-long romantic relationship as their careers unfold.<\/p>\n

\"\"Heated Rivalry This image released by Crave shows Hudson Williams, left, and Connor Storrie in a scene from “Heated Rivalry.” (Sabrina Lantos\/AP) <\/p>\n

Directed by Montreal\u2019s Jacob Tierney, the series debuted over U.S. Thanksgiving and has become one of Canada\u2019s most talked-about original series<\/p>\n

\u201cThe spice definitely gets people in, or kinda piques their interest, but I do think they stay for just the tender romance at the centre,\u201d Williams told CNN<\/a> Wednesday. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of yearning and these men are forced to communicate with each other, which is sometimes unheard of.\u201d<\/p>\n

The show has also drawn attention for putting a queer love story in the masculine world of professional hockey.<\/p>\n

In an interview on Andy Cohen Live<\/a>, Williams said they receive anonymous messages from professional athletes, saying they\u2019re \u201cstill in the closet.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re reaching out to (Reid), our author, who will then kind of relay these lovely anonymous emails,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd sometimes they\u2019re just reaching out privately through Instagram, and those ones are the ones that really just kind of hit you and go, \u2018Oh, so this is a fun show, and it\u2019s celebratory, but also sometimes it\u2019s just hitting people right in the nerve.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"TV-Heated Rivalry This image released by Crave shows Hudson Williams, left, and Connor Storrie in a scene from “Heated Rivalry.” (Crave) <\/p>\n

For both actors, the series represents their biggest roles to date. Williams has previously appeared in the series Tracker<\/a> and the 2024 Hallmark holiday film All I Need for Christmas<\/a>. Storrie has had small roles in Joker: Folie \u00e0 Deux<\/a> and the 2023 miniseries Tiny Beautiful Things<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Hollywood Reporter <\/a>also reported that Williams and Storrie will present at Sunday\u2019s 2026 Golden Globe Awards.<\/p>\n

The Canadian production has also found a growing international audience. HBO Max has acquired the series for the United States and Australia, while Sky will air it in New Zealand and Movistar Plus+ plans to debut the show in Spain. Heated Rivalry has already been renewed for a second season.<\/p>\n

With files from The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Stars of the hockey drama \u201cHeated Rivalry\u201d are heading to U.S. late-night television this month, marking a high-profile…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":395175,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[712,49,48,75,348],"class_list":["post-395174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-apple-news","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=395174"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395174\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/395175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=395174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=395174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=395174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}