Photo courtesy of HBO Max Heated Rivalry Press Release.
The hockey-centric TV show is challenging stereotypes of queer love through its portrayal of its multi-dimensional characters, and the careful balance they must strike between their personal and professional lives.
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By Marissa Johnson
TAMPA, Fla. — The queer hockey show Heated Rivalry took the world by storm following its initial Canadian release on Nov. 28. The show was adapted from a novel of the same name, written by Rachel Reid, the second in her Game Changers book series.
The narrative follows characters Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov as rival hockey stars in the “MLH,” or Major League Hockey, the fictionalized stand-in for the real-world NHL. Both face the necessity to keep their attraction to one another secret, struggling between engaging in a relationship and balancing the fame of global stardom.
The show has been widely praised for its intricate world-building, as well as its use of sex within the storytelling. Audiences have embraced the attention to detail given to the show’s sex scenes, as well as their necessity in communicating the overall plot.
Heated Rivalry stars Hudson Williams as Shane, and Connor Storrie as Ilya — alongside a cast including François Arnaud, Callan Potter, Robbie G.K., and Ksenia Daniela Kharlamova.
The 6-episode show’s release spanned from Nov. 28 to Dec. 26, and was extremely well-received, both socially and critically. Almost immediately after it began airing, Heated Rivalry was picked up for U.S. release by distribution company HBO Max.
On IMDB, all episodes are ranked as a 9.2 or higher out of 10, with the fifth episode ranked highest, at 9.9 out of 10.
But the show has excited more than just the general public and television critics — it’s caught the attention of multiple professional athletes as well.
In an interview with Andy Cohen on his SiriusXM show Radio Andy, Williams spoke about the messages he’s received from professional players about his portrayal of Shane and the importance it has held for them.
“The people who reach out, somewhat anonymously,” Williams said, “are like, ‘I’m a professional player still, and I’m still in the closet.’”
Often, the messages are directed to the original novel’s author, Reid, and then sent to Williams. Sometimes, however, they are sent directly to him through the player’s social media accounts.
“Those ones are the ones that really just kind of hit you,” Hudson said. “This is a fun show, and it’s celebratory, but also sometimes it’s just hitting people right in the nerve.’”
The show scored its first major award show nomination for Outstanding New TV Series at the upcoming GLAAD Awards. The nomination came just before the announcement that actors Williams and Storrie had been chosen as Olympic torch-bearers for the winter Olympics.
Though fans are still embracing re-watching the first season of the show, some are already looking ahead to more.
“I don’t have details,” showrunner Jacob Tierney said when asked about season 2. “I have not started writing, so I’m not just trying to be evasive. I genuinely don’t know.”
Yet, in an interview with Today, Storrie was a bit more open about the question of season 2’s timeline. He shared with audiences that filming for the second season would likely begin before the end of the summer.
Likely, it can be expected that there will be a turnaround time of a year to a year-and-a-half between seasons 1 and 2. However, nothing is currently confirmed regarding the timeline or filming schedule.