SPOILER ALERT: This story contains details about Episode 3 of “Heated Rivalry,” now streaming on HBO Max.
When François Arnaud read the script for the third episode of the hit queer sports drama “Heated Rivalry,” he had the same reaction many viewers are having now after watching it. Instead of more sexcapades between Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) and Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie), the episode follows a fast and furious romance between Arnaud’s hockey player character Scott Hunter and a smoothie shop clerk named Kip (Robbie G.K.).
“It completely came out of left field,” Arnaud tells me. “And it’s a real tonal shift.”
Whereas Shane and Ilya’s story revolves around their hookups over many years, Scott and Kip actually start dating. In several scenes, Scott grapples with being in the closet. He runs from an art gallery because he fears being seen with Kip; he asks Kip to be patient, because he thinks he could come out years down the line. The two end up going their separate ways after Scott refuses to join Kip at his birthday celebration at a gay bar.
François Arnaud as Scott Hunter and Robbie G.K. as Kip Grady in “Heated Rivalry.”
sabrina lantos
“There’s something sad about this guy, because in so many ways he’s completely emotionally available for what’s going on with this new person,” Arnaud says. “He’s completely there, and ready for it, but he just can’t make it fit with everything — all the sacrifices he’s made up until that point. He wants to, and he just can’t. There’s something truly paralyzed about him.”
“Heated Rivalry” is an adaptation of Rachel Reid’s “Game Changers” novel series. Written and directed by Jacob Tierney, the series was created for the Canadian streamer Crave, and now plays in the U.S. on HBO Max. Since the two-episode season premiere dropped on Nov. 28 — giving viewers Thanksgiving weekend to watch it — “Heated Rivalry” has become a viral sensation, with clips and memes of Williams and Storrie flooding social media. “It’s like ‘Normal People’ on ice,” Arnaud says, referring to the Paul Mescal and Daisy Edgar-Jones Hulu series that garnered similar attention when it premiered during the COVID pandemic in spring 2020 .
“I had not read the books. I had not even heard of the books,” Arnaud says. “Jacob was like, ‘I didn’t write this for you, but I keep hearing your voice. I can’t hear anybody else doing it.’ He was like, ‘Can you read these six episodes today? There’s not much in the first two of Scott, but 3 is all yours, and then there’s more later on.’”
So what did Arnaud think?
“At first, I was a bit overwhelmed, I guess, by the intensity of the sex scenes, but I knew Jacob had something that he would turn on its head,” says Arnaud, who is best known for Showtime’s “The Borgias,” “Midnight, Texas” on NBC and guest starring on “Schitt’s Creek” as David’s ex-boyfriend. “People are hooked by the smutty aspects of it, and there’s nothing wrong with that, but I think Jacob really uses that to peel away layers. I think the end of it is quite emotionally affecting.”
Arnaud is no stranger to coming out. In 2020, he publicly revealed he was bisexual in a post on Instagram.
“The only reason I said something…is because I did not feel ashamed of it,” he says. “I felt hiding it, concealing it actively, which I would have had to do at that point, was an act that indicated shame. I was like, ‘That’s not how I feel.’ I said it because I didn’t want to hide. But I’m not particularly interested in talking about my relationships, or all that. I don’t want to invite people into my home.”
Just days before Arnaud and I talked, Tierney made headlines when a reporter asked whether the sexualities of Williams and Storrie are relevant to the show. “I don’t think there’s any reason to get into that stuff,” Tierney said. “I’ll tell you something about the casting of both of these roles: You can’t ask questions like that when you’re casting, right? It’s actually against the law. So what you have to gauge is somebody’s enthusiasm, and willingness to do the work.”
Arnaud agrees. “It’s absurd to think that you should be allowed to ask about someone’s sexuality when they’re trying to get hired for a job,” he says. “It’s crazy, like we’re only going to hire you if you’re gay? And then it’s, like, how gay are you? It’s a spectrum.”
Arnaud and G.K. didn’t meet until their first day working together. “The first time I met him was with the intimacy coordinator,” he recalls. “I don’t think we shared a meal before.”
They worked closely with intimacy coordinator Chala Hunter for their sex scenes, which they filmed over two days, but the awkwardness did lead to some laughs. “We were making dick jokes before the sex scenes, but as soon as the cameras were rolling, we were clocked in and tuned into the reality of these characters, and we didn’t feel like laughing,” Arnaud says.
One particular moment was “retooled,” he says. “Scott, the superstar hockey player, was obviously the top and the smoothie boy was the bottom, but then we really wanted to reverse that dynamic in a surprising way,” Arnaud says. “I think that shows a sign of a vulnerability for [Scott], which I think is much more relatable then just confining him to a box.”
And there there’s the nakedness of “Heated Rivalry.” “Hockey players aren’t as ripped as these characters,” Arnaud says. “They’re thicker. They have these thick thighs like tree trunks. That is not my body type. But I wanted to look like someone who’s a professional athlete. So I worked out a lot. But then, as usual, on the actual day where I’m supposed to be naked, I kind of panicked and ate a bunch of donuts at craft services.”
Kip gives Scott a pair of blue socks imprinted with bananas to remind him of the blueberry and banana smoothies he first ordered from him at the shop. Scott wears them during his games for good luck.
“They did give me a pair with hockey sticks on them but I don’t have the banana socks,” Arnaud says. “Maybe they hold onto them for a potential Season 2?”
No, Arnaud does not know if a second season has been greenlit: “But’s a massive hit — I can’t imagine not. I just don’t know how involved I would be.”
Perhaps a Scott spin-off? “I’ve heard talks about that,” Arnaud says with a smile.
For now, he teases the season finale. “There’s a big moment, the emotional climax of the season involving all the characters that we’ve gotten to know,” Arnaud says. “I hadn’t seen anything, and Jacob had told me it was good, but then I went to do some ADR for a few lines. Jacob was like, ‘I’m going to show you the whole sequence.’
“I watched it, and I started crying. Jacob came into the room, and he was crying. Then we just held each other. It’s really powerful.”
