“We didn’t know we were going to sell this show,” he added, explaining why fans will have to wait. “We didn’t know anybody was going to watch it. I had not written a second season, I didn’t know I was going to get a second season, but it’s all happening. We’re writing it now, we’re getting ready to start shooting this summer.”
In calendric terms, shooting is planned to start in August, with a projected April 2027 air date for the second season.
Brendan Brady, Tierney’s production partner and co-executive-producer, had this advice for fans looking to fill the Heated Rivalry–shaped hole in their hearts in the meantime: “Like the best parts of this show, just enjoy the yearn.”
Which cast members are coming back for the second season?
Fear not: Shane and Ilya are accounted for. “We’ll both be there,” Williams said when he and Storrie announced the show’s renewal. Indeed, both Storrie and Williams have signed on for three potential seasons of the show. While other key cast members, like François Arnaud and Robbie G.K., aren’t yet officially confirmed to return, it seems likely. The two play hockey player Scott Hunter and his boyfriend, Kip, and their plotline was not only a fan favorite in the first season, but pivotal to the romance between Shane and Ilya.
Reid told Variety in December 2025 that she’d like to see the characters back in some way for the second season.
“Not that we weren’t expecting it, but I think we’re all surprised at how popular Scott and Kip were,” Reid said. “So now it’s, ‘OK, how do you get more Scott and Kip?’”
How did the first season of Heated Rivalry end?
After a decade of yearning, hooking up, confessions of love in multiple languages, and even—gasp!—occasionally calling one another by their first names, Shane and Ilya spend their first extended time together, a staycation at Shane’s rural cottage (really more of a mansion, but potato, po-tah-to). It’s very sweet, with a lot of feelings-talk, confessions, planning for the future, and education about the “stupid Canadian wolf bird” (loons, as some call them), with some late-breaking drama when Shane’s dad, David (played by Dylan Walsh), drops by unannounced and catches the two canoodling. During an emotional spaghetti dinner with David and Shane’s momager, Yuna (Christina Chang), Shane and Ilya define their relationship and then drive off together into the sunset, holding hands.
Hudson Williams as Shane Hollander and Connor Storrie as Ilya Rozanov in Season 1 of Heated Rivalry.Sabrina Lantos/HBO Max.
What will happen on season two of Heated Rivalry?
As Storrie said while announcing the show’s renewal, “Start reading The Long Game if you wanna spoil yourself.”