Just over two months ago, few people had heard of Heated Rivalry. Now? It’s HBO Max‘s top acquired scripted series ever.
Warner Bros Discovery said Monday that the series has surpassed 10.6M U.S. viewers, having more than doubled its viewership since the finale arrived on December 26.
The series, which comes from Canadian studio Crave, was swiftly renewed after Season 1 debuted to far more fanfare than anyone might have expected. The very modest series about a romance between two closeted gay hockey players posted consistent week-over-week growth throughout the first season’s run on HBO Max, Warner Bros Discovery said. In fact, the company says the finale delivered four times the audience of the premiere.
Since then, stars Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie have done myriad press appearances, carried the Olympic torch and presented at the Golden Globes. And Storrie will host Saturday Night Live on February 28. All the buzz appears to be paying off, given these latest numbers from WBD.
Created by Canadian writer-director-producer Jacob Tierney (Letterkenny, Shoresy) and based on Rachel Reid’s bestselling book series Game Changers, the six-episode hourlong romantic drama tells the story of rival pro hockey players Shane Hollander (Williams) and Ilya Rozanov (Storrie).
They are two of the biggest stars in Major League Hockey, tied together by their ambition, rivalry and a magnetic pull neither of them understands. They begin a secret fling as rookies that morphs into a long journey of love, denial and self-discovery during the next eight years. They’re forced to decide if there is room for love in their fiercely competitive world.
The series is distributed internationally by Sphere Abacus, which is owned by Canadian producer Sphere Media and the primary distributor of programming from Bell, which is also a stakeholder in the UK-based company.
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