- Hudson Williams stars as Laufey’s charming-but-dangerous love interest in her retro ’60s-style “Madwoman” music video, directed by Warren Fu, alongside Alysa Liu, Lola Tung, and Katseye’s Megan Skiendiel.
- The Heated Rivalry actor gets fish-slapped into a pool and emerges shirtless, causing every woman — and the waitstaff — to completely lose their composure.
- Peloton dropped a sweaty teaser featuring Williams on a Treadmill machine with a very pointed message: “Things are about to get heated.”
It was a big Monday (April 13, 2026) for Hudson Williams fans. The 25-year-old Canadian actor, who launched himself into internet superstardom via the Crave/HBO Max ice hockey romance Heated Rivalry, has managed to flood your timeline from two completely different directions: a dripping-wet cameo in Laufey‘s brand-new “Madwoman” music video and a sweat-soaked teaser for an incoming Peloton campaign. If you were trying to get work done today, our condolences.
Let’s start with Laufey, because that’s where things get truly unhinged — in the best possible way. Fresh from her Sunday night Coachella performance, the Icelandic singer dropped a star-studded music video that shows her slapping Williams with a fish. Yes, a fish. As one does.
The ’60s-themed music video, directed by Warren Fu, depicts the group at Laufey’s fabulous house as she decides to overlook the red flags she notices in Williams’s character — a charming but dangerous heartthrob — and pursue a relationship with him. Williams plays the part with alarming ease: suited up, smoldering, and clearly up to no good.
The group moves to the backyard for some poolside drinks as Laufey fights with Williams’s character over his exes — and that’s when the fish-slap moment happens. Williams falls into the pool and uses the opportunity to take off his wet shirt, causing all the women, as well as the waitstaff, to helplessly stare at him. Relatable, honestly.
The following scenes feature each of the girls stealing glances at the actor as he dramatically takes off his shirt in the pool, flexes his muscles for the waiters, and blows a kiss at the camera. The man understands the assignment.
Laufey teased his casting last week, posting polaroids and introducing him simply as the “madman” to her “madwoman.” She captioned the reveal, “Introducing our madman for the madwoman music video… get slapped,” accompanied by two fish emojis. The fish was not a metaphor. It was a promise.
The internet has already dubbed the music video’s cast the “Wasian Avengers” — Laufey and all the guest stars in the video are half-Asian, including The Studio star Chase Sui Wonders, who also appears on a magazine cover in one scene.
For Laufey, the casting was deeply intentional. She said: “Growing up, I felt a general lack of representation for people who looked like me in music and media. With the ‘Madwoman’ video, I wanted to be that representation. The result is what honestly feels like my absolute dream video and exactly what younger Laufey would have loved to see.”
A final, chilling twist shows Laufey may literally be trapped at a dead end — a Don’t Worry Darling vibe that elevates the whole thing from cute celebrity cameo vehicle to something with actual narrative teeth.
Now, back to the sweating.
Williams is evidently part of a Peloton campaign, which will premiere on Tuesday, April 14. Peloton teased it with the line “Things are about to get heated,” alongside a photo showing the superstar sweating and lifting up his shirt while working out on what looks like a Peloton Tread machine.
Peloton posted a very spicy teaser Reel — and they do mean teaser — featuring what appears to be a very sweaty Hudson Williams doing a Tread workout, with no details given, just a cryptic “Coming Soon.” Cryptic, but effective. The fitness company knows exactly what it’s doing.
Since Heated Rivalry debuted on HBO Max and Crave in November 2025, riders have been tracking down every class featuring songs from the soundtrack. The Spotify official playlist has 376,635 saves. An official partnership has been a long time coming, and Peloton finally pulled the trigger — with maximum visual impact.
Williams has also been nominated for Best Leading Performance in a Drama Series at the Canadian Screen Awards, is set to reprise his role as Shane in Heated Rivalry season two (currently slated for an August 2026 production start), and has additional projects lined up, including the Crave thriller Yaga and Netflix’s FTX drama The Altruists. The man is not resting.
But today? Today, he’s shirtless, sweaty, and completely inescapable. And honestly, nobody seems to be complaining.
