‘Heated Rivalry’ Season 2: When Filming Starts & Everything We Know So Far

Heated Rivalry‘s Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) and Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie) are experts in yearning, and executive producer Brendan Brady is telling fans to channel them when it comes to Season 2.

“There will be more Heated Rivalry on your TVs truly as soon as humanly possible,” added creator Jacob Tierney during a joint February 26 appearance on CBS Mornings. Luckily, by the end of the interview, Gayle King had the duo confirm that shooting will begin in mere months, so it won’t be too long until the hockey players’ secret romance continues.

Swooon has kept a close eye on Heated Rivalry Season 2 since it was renewed. We even asked Tierney ourselves about his plans for the adaptation, which will cover author Rachel Reid’s sequel to Heated Rivalry called The Long Game. We’ve put all of the major Season 2 reveals and developments in one place, including the plot details, returning cast members, and more.

When is Heated Rivalry Season 2’s release date?

Heated Rivalry will return to HBO Max and Crave in spring 2027. It may seem like a ways off, but Tierney addressed the Season 2 production timeline in an interview with Variety. “It can’t be same time next year, because this time last year I’d written five of these, and this time this year I’ve written zero of them,” Tierney said. “So it’s going to be a little bit later, but it’s still going to be soon.”

He continued, “We understand that everybody’s goal is to not do two years between seasons. And at the same time, I don’t want to put out a rushed sh*tty second season just because the show is very popular. But we’re very aware that our creative partners are enthusiastic and don’t want to wait too long. We’re getting back to work!”

That development comes after the official Heated Rivalry Instagram account announced Season 2 on December 12, 2025, with Williams and Storrie reading a passage from The Long Game. “We’re so excited by the reception our characters have received,” Williams began. Storrie chimed in, “And we cannot wait to get back into production and explore where Shane and Ilya go in Season 2.”

 

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An additional video of Tierney breaking the exciting news to the leads was also released.

Jacob and Brendan telling Hudson and Connor about the shows renewal via heatedrivalrytv on Instagram ❤️‍🔥🏒 #heatedrivalry pic.twitter.com/oGX15GsSMC

— Heated Rivalry Updates (@H_R_Updates) December 12, 2025

Crave is set to produce the series again, while HBO Max will continue to serve as a distributor. According to Deadline, the steamer is “now striking deals with program distributor Sphere Abacus for more territories.”

When does Heated Rivalry Season 2 start filming?

Tierney confirmed that the cast will head back to Canada and shoot their Season 2 scenes in August 2026. We’re ready for the behind-the-scenes content!

Who is in the Heated Rivalry Season 2 cast?

Williams and Storrie will once again appear as Shane and Ilya, which they confirmed themselves in the renewal announcement. Months later, one actor just confirmed that they’ll return: Sophie Nélisse. On February 1, she confirmed in an Awards Radar interview that she’ll once again play Shane’s actress ex, Rose Landry, in Season 2. It’s not a surprise for readers of The Long Game, in which Rose plays a small role.

Tierney confirmed that The Long Game will be “the basis of Season 2 and potentially moving forward,” so Reid’s book gives us some idea about which characters will show up again and which new ones will be added to the mix.

Tierney hinted at the new additions in his chat with Swooon and in his interview with the Los Angeles Times. “Just like you can’t tell the story without Scott Hunter, you can’t really tell the story without Troy Barrett,” Tierney said, referring to a main character from Reid’s book series.

He also added in regards to casting, “We need Canadian talent, and we love Canadian talent. It’s not a burden, but it’s also something we literally have to do to get our financing.”

Beyond Nélisse and the two leads, no other familiar faces have been confirmed. Only time will tell if Ksenia Daniela Kharlamova will reprise her role as Ilya’s best friend, Svetlana. The same goes for the actors who play Shane’s parents, Dylan Walsh and Christina Chang, and Callan Potter, who plays Shane’s best friend and teammate. However, it’s highly likely all will return.

When Swooon spoke to François Arnaud and Robbie G.K., aka Scott and Kip, ahead of the show’s renewal, they said they didn’t yet know if their characters would return. However, they did have some ideas about what they wanted to see next for Scott and Kip.

“I think that there could be a world in which, after all this dies down, real life sets in and things are difficult,” G.K. said. “I think that there’s a lot of bridges to cross where it’s, like, the reality. It’s one thing for to Scott to have this one moment of, ‘You know what? I’m going to do this,’ but there’s so much more that I’m sure happens in his life, happens in Kip’s life, all these things that will essentially explode after this one particular moment.”

Arnaud also told Glamour, “I heard, like, months ago, before the show even came out, that the producers were interested in a potential spinoff [about Scott and Kip], so who knows? I don’t know if it’s now. I don’t know if it’s Season 2. I don’t know if it’s Season 3.”

What will Heated Rivalry Season 2 be about?

There were no plot details revealed with the renewal announcement, but in an announcement video, Storrie did say to “start reading The Long Game if you want to spoil it for yourself.” At the Golden Globes, Williams revealed that he’s most excited to adapt the steamy trophy room scene in Season 2. Read on for a breakdown of the sequel story, without delving too far into spoiler territory.

The games not over.

Season 2 of #HeatedRivalry is coming to HBO Max. pic.twitter.com/CwoTu9LuTl

— HBO Max (@hbomax) December 12, 2025

What is The Long Game about?

[Warning: The below contains spoilers for Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid.]

Bell Media

Tierney confirmed he’ll adapt The Long Game in an interview with Swooon. He’s optioned all of the books in Reid’s Game Changers series, per c21 Media.

Season 1 doesn’t include the epilogue from Reid’s Heated Rivalry, so beware of spoilers for the first book ahead. Heated Rivalry ends with Shane and Ilya confessing their love, committing to being together, and making a long-term plan. It comes to fruition in the epilogue’s year-and-some-change time jump: They’re keeping their relationship a secret until they retire, but Ilya switches teams to be closer to Shane. He becomes the captain of the Ottawa Centaurs. He also starts a charity with Shane, revealing their “friendship” to the world in the process.

Heated Rivalry gives Shane and Ilya a semi-happy ending, but the angst doesn’t disappear entirely in The Long Game. The second book takes place a decade after they first met, and their relationship still isn’t public. The hockey-obsessed Shane doesn’t feel any desire to make their relationship known, lest it affect his career. Ilya, on the other hand, is ready to stop hiding. The sneaking around is taking a toll on him. The two have to decide what’s more important: hockey or love.

“We’re going through time so quickly in this story, but The Long Game is so much more focused on the Centaurs and is a bit more settled into, I think, a two-year period, so I think that it will give us time to explore a bit more of the universe,” Tierney told Swooon. “And also to get to know more people that we know a bit: Hayden and Jackie and J.J. and the people that are on Shane’s team.”

He continued, “But certainly, I’m excited to meet all of the fond members of the Ottawa Centaurs, including any new players that happen to show up there and maybe their social media manager…and who knows, all kinds of stuff.”

In February 2026, the writer-director told CBC, “The second season will continue in the spirit of the first. This is about queer people not being punished for their queerness. They all have journeys, there are ups and downs. There is no unhappy ending coming anybody’s way. There might be a bit more suspense, maybe a few more cliffhangers, but that’s also just a function of television.” (Plane scene, anyone?)

How many episodes will be in Heated Rivalry Season 2?

In his Los Angeles Times interview, Tierney wouldn’t confirm or deny if The Long Game would play out across one or two seasons, but he did say he’d likely stick to six episodes per season. “I don’t need to do 10. I would always rather tighten the belt than get loosey-goosey,” he said. “I would rather be like, ‘Let’s see how much story we can pack into these episodes.’”

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‘Heated Rivalry': Everything to Know About the Plane Scene

There have also been discussions of a special episode before Season 2’s release. “We’re going to see what’s feasible. If [creator Jacob Tierney] can find a way to make the source material work in a way that gets us something sooner or something special, I’m sure he will,” Justin Stockman, the VP of content development and programming at Bell Media, told The Star.

What are your Season 2 predictions? Let us know in the comments below!

Heated Rivalry, Season 2, 2027, Crave & HBO Max