{"id":282419,"date":"2026-02-05T16:47:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T16:47:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/282419\/"},"modified":"2026-02-05T16:47:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T16:47:08","slug":"everything-we-know-about-heated-rivalry-season-two","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/282419\/","title":{"rendered":"Everything we know about Heated Rivalry season two"},"content":{"rendered":"

Is anyone else still at the cottage? Yeah, us too. The Heated Rivalry hype doesn\u2019t seem to be going anywhere soon, even if there\u2019s a pretty long wait in store for season two.<\/p>\n

After an initial small-time release as a Crave original in November, the super sexy queer ice hockey drama went supernova. It\u2019s now on HBO, the home of The Last of Us and Severance, and reached UK shores in January, on Sky.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Online, the response has been rampant. Connor Storrie<\/a> and Hudson Williams<\/a>, who play the red hot rivals in question Ilya Rozanov and Shane Hollander, are now red hot Hollywood property too (in January, they presented at the Golden Globes). Even Robbie GK<\/a> and Fran\u00e7ois Arnaud<\/a>, who play side characters (and lovers) Kip Grady and Scott Hunter, have become the internet\u2019s fixation.<\/p>\n

Now that season one has wrapped up, it\u2019s time to start dreaming of season two. Here\u2019s everything we know about Heated Rivalry\u2019s upcoming second season.<\/p>\n

\"ConnorHeated Rivalry season two is on the way. (Sabrina Lantos\/HBO Max)<\/p>\n

When is Heated Rivalry season two coming out?<\/p>\n

First things first, we know that a second season of Heated Rivalry<\/a> is on the way; Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams confirmed<\/a> as such with a sweet viral video back in December. In a recent interview with Deadline<\/a>, HBO\u2019s boss Casey Bloys appeared to confirm that season three has been greenlit, too.<\/p>\n

As for when season two might arrive, there\u2019s good and bad news. The good news is that we\u2019re not talking A Euphoria or Stranger Things wait time. The bad news is that there will still be a wait, of roughly 18 months or so.<\/p>\n

In December, the show\u2019s director Jacob Tierney confirmed that season two won\u2019t be released in 2026<\/a>, as he hadn\u2019t even started writing it at the time of season one dropping. He teased that while it would be released \u201ca little bit later\u201d it is \u201cstill going to be soon\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"JacobJacob Tierney, the showrunner behind Heated Rivalry. (Getty)<\/p>\n

In a new interview with the Los Angeles Times<\/a>, Tierney put a time frame on season two, saying that fans can expect it in spring 2027.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs much as I appreciate how rabid and interested people are at this point, the first season worked because I trusted my gut with this, and I\u2019m going to do that again,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

During an interview on Today, Storrie also suggested that season two will begin filming this summer<\/a>, which was backed up by Bloys in his recent Deadline interview.<\/p>\n

What will Heated Rivalry season two be about?<\/p>\n

Heated Rivalry season one ended with Ilya and Shane turning their risqu\u00e9 post-rink rendezvous into something serious during a weekend at Shane\u2019s cottage. While there, they confessed their love for one another, and began slowly referring to one another as their boyfriend. While at the cottage, Shane\u2019s father also caught them kissing, leading to them coming out to Shane\u2019s parents.<\/p>\n

Heated Rivalry is the second book in author Rachel Reid\u2019s Game Changers novel series, while season two of the show is set to focus on the sixth book: The Long Game.<\/p>\n

Released in 2022, The Long Game returns to Shane and Ilya\u2019s love story ten years later. While they are still together, the pro sportsmen are still publicly closeted.<\/p>\n

\"HudsonHeated Rivalry. (Sabrina Lantos\/HBO)<\/p>\n

\u201cTen years. That\u2019s how long Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov have been seeing each other. How long they\u2019ve been keeping their relationship a secret. From friends, from family\u2026 from the league,\u201d reads an official synopsis<\/a> of the book.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Shane wants to stay at the top of his game, what he and Ilya share has to remain secret. He loves Ilya, but what if going public ruins everything?\u201d<\/p>\n

It sounds like season two will tug even harder on the heartstrings than season one.<\/p>\n

In December, Tierney told Entertainment Weekly that while it won\u2019t \u201cbe a shock\u201d for fans to know that season two will focus on Ilya and Shane, there will be other characters thrown into the mix.<\/p>\n

In his Los Angeles Times interview, Tierney said that there will be \u201cdiversions\u201d into other characters\u2019 plots in season two.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust like you can\u2019t tell the story without Scott Hunter, you can\u2019t really tell the story without Troy Barrett,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Troy Barrett is a character in book five of Reid\u2019s series, Role Model, who didn\u2019t appear in season one of the show. He\u2019s another pro hockey player with a queer crush, this time on social media manager, Harris Drover.<\/p>\n

As far as Storrie is concerned, season two is an exciting prospect.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m interested to play at the dynamic that develops in The Long Game, which is, now that we\u2019ve established we\u2019re together and we\u2019re choosing this, what does that look like to consistently choose through new obstacles, new self-realizations?\u201d he told Entertainment Weekly<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re in the real leagues now, and it\u2019s cool to watch these people that have been in this heightened reality for so long. The other shoe drops that deepens the love, but that also tests some of their personal limits.\u201d<\/p>\n

Who will star in Heated Rivalry season two?<\/p>\n

Well, if Ilya Rozanov and Shane Hollander are there, Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams will be too.<\/p>\n

It remains to be seen whether Kip and Scott, and thus Robbie GK and Fran\u00e7ois Arnaud, will appear in season two. That said, there might have been a slight hint in season one: viewers saw a brief look at bartender Kyle Swift<\/a>, played by Matthew Finlan, who has a crush on Kip in Reid\u2019s 2020 book Common Goal. If he were to play a role in season two, it\u2019s possible that Kip (and Robbie) will appear, too. Kyle also goes on to have a relationship with older hockey player Eric Bennett, though the role of Eric has not yet been cast.<\/p>\n

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly recently, Finlan said that he knows \u201cjust as much as you \u2014 or just as little, let\u2019s put it that way\u201d on whether he will appear in season two.<\/p>\n

An actor is also yet to be cast in the role of Troy or Harris, if they were to appear in season two.<\/p>\n

Tierney recently said that while there has certainly been interest in season two from high-profile Hollywood heavyweights, he\u2019s keen to keep the talent Canadian.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need Canadian talent, and we love Canadian talent. It\u2019s not a burden, but it\u2019s also something we literally have to do to get our financing,\u201d he said. Plus, casting relative unknowns was part of the charm of season one, and look how that turned out.<\/p>\n

What else do we know about Heated Rivalry season two?<\/p>\n

Specific details about Heated Rivalry season two are scarce, but there\u2019s a few things we\u2019ve learnt along the way.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For example, Tierney is pretty keen for the second season to follow a similar format to season one, with just six episodes. \u201cI would always rather tighten the belt than get loosey-goosey\u2026 I would rather be like, \u2018Let\u2019s see how much story we can pack into these episodes,\u2019\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

Tierney has also confirmed that he will return to direct season two, but will be bringing on a co-writer.<\/p>\n

\"HudsonHudson Williams and Connor Storrie and Shane and Ilya. (Sabrina Lantos\/HBO)<\/p>\n

We also know that the second season, like the first, won\u2019t be co-produced by HBO and so won\u2019t be \u201cHBO-ified\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is obviously a very successful creative collaboration between Jacob and Crave. I see no reason why we would be involved creatively,\u201d Bloys said recently.<\/p>\n

While there\u2019s still well over a year to wait until Heated Rivalry, we can expect a trickle of details to be announced over the coming months.\u00a0Keep the bed warm at the cottage, boys.<\/p>\n

Heated Rivalry is streaming now on HBO, Crave and NOW.<\/p>\n

Share your thoughts! Let us know in the comments below, and remember to keep the conversation respectful.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Is anyone else still at the cottage? Yeah, us too. The Heated Rivalry hype doesn\u2019t seem to be…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":282420,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[121886,93,105687,117598,61,60,282],"class_list":{"0":"post-282419","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-connor-storrie","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-heated-rivalry","11":"tag-hudson-williams","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-ireland","14":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=282419"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282419\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/282420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=282419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=282419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=282419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}