Highlights
- Creator Jacob Tierney asks Heated Rivalry fans to avoid crashing season 2 set visits
- Stars Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie spotted around Toronto as filming begins
- Season 2 premieres April 2027, adapting The Long Game and Role Model elements
Heated Rivalry fans are being told to pump the brakes on their enthusiasm — at least when it comes to season two.
Creator Jacob Tierney took to Instagram this week with a heartfelt (but firm) request for fans not to swarm filming locations as production kicks off on the hit hockey drama’s second season.
“To our incredible fans and everyone who’s been sharing in the excitement for the show: Your support, enthusiasm, and kindness have meant the world to us,” Tierney wrote in the statement, shared via his production company Accent Aigu Entertainment and the show’s official accounts. “As we gear up for more Heated Rivalry, please help us in making it the best it can be.”
The plea gets specific.
“If you happen to come across one of our filming locations, please give our cast and crew the space they need to do what they do best,” the note continued. “We promise it’ll be worth the wait!”
It’s signed, fittingly, “Your Heated Rivalry Family.”
The request comes as stars Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie — who play on-again, off-again hockey lovers Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov — have been spotted around Toronto seemingly nonstop over the last week, with fan photos flooding social media daily.
Season one of the LGBTQ+ sports romance, based on Rachel Reid‘s Game Changers novels, premiered in late November 2025 and quickly became a breakout hit for Crave and HBO Max, averaging 10.6 million viewers per episode by some counts.
Season two picks up roughly a decade into Shane and Ilya’s relationship, about three years after where fans last left them. Justice Smith has reportedly joined the cast, and Tierney has revealed the new season will lean on Reid’s novel The Long Game while folding in elements of her book Role Model, including new characters Troy Barrett and Harris Drover.
The wait won’t be short. Season two isn’t expected to premiere until April 2027, giving fans plenty of time to practice the very restraint Tierney is asking for.
For now, the message is simple: let the cast work.
