Who Are Daniel Diemer & Shaheen Jafargholi? Meet ‘Heated Rivalry’s Ryan & Fabian
What To Know
- Season 2 of Heated Rivalry will introduce the couple Ryan and Fabian.
- They’ll be played by Daniel Diemer and Shaheen Jafargholi.
- The characters’ interconnected romance comes from Rachel Reid’s Game Changers series.
Heated Rivalry now has four out of five of its main couples. In Rachel Reid’s Game Changers series, Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) and Ilya Rozanov’s (Connor Storrie) romance isn’t the only love story. While their sequel book, The Long Game, will be the basis of Heated Rivalry Season 2 along with Troy and Harris’ Role Model, it appears that creator Jacob Tierney will also be working with Ryan and Fabian’s Tough Guy.
Like Scott (François Arnaud) and Kip (Robbie G.K.) — and the soon-to-appear Harris (Justice Smith) and Troy (Charlie Gillespie) — Ryan and Fabian are connected to Shane and Ilya’s story. Get to know how the characters will factor into the plot of Season 2, as well as the actors playing them, Daniel Diemer and Shaheen Jafargholi, below.
Who are Ryan and Fabian in Heated Rivalry?
Ryan actually does appear in Heated Rivalry, playing briefly in Boston with Ilya. He’s a 6’7″ enforcer and very physically intimidating. However, he’s withdrawn, anxious, and shy — at least when we first meet him. He’s been traded often throughout his career, and he doesn’t make friends easily. He’s outed as gay to his teammates and doesn’t keep it a secret, though he goes under the radar. Ryan’s traded to Toronto, where he’s reunited with Fabian after having a crush on him when they were kids. There, he also plays with Troy before Troy is traded to the Ottawa Centaurs. Troy and his then-best friend, Dallas Kent, bullied Ryan.
In his new city, Ryan reconnects with the confident, up-and-coming Lebanese-Canadian singer Fabian Salah. Ryan billeted with Fabian’s family when they were teenagers, though Fabian himself hates hockey and the culture surrounding it. They crushed on each other back then, but never fully acted on their feelings and lost touch. Fabian becomes Ryan’s guide to the city’s gay scene. As he becomes happier with his life, Ryan questions his future playing professional hockey.
Once Ryan retires, Ilya asks Ryan to help coach his kids hockey camp in Ottawa, which we see in The Long Game. During that book, Shane and Ilya also go on a double date with Ryan, who walks in on them kissing and discovers their secret, and Fabian. Shane and Ilya also go to Fabian’s concert, a rare moment in public for the two of them.
Who will play Ryan and Fabian in Heated Rivalry Season 2?
Thirty-year-old Canadian actor Daniel Diemer will play the gentle giant struggling with his mental health in Season 2. He’s 6’5″, and he almost pursued a career in sports before acting, per the Times Colonist. Rather than hockey, his sports were tennis, soccer, and volleyball.
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Shaheen Jafargholi, a 29-year-old Welsh-Iranian actor and singer, is playing Fabian. At just 12 years old, Jafargholi auditioned for Britain’s Got Talent Season 3, performing a Jackson 5 song. He came in seventh place behind runner-up Susan Boyle. At the same age, he also performed at Michael Jackson’s memorial. Per Rolling Stone, a YouTube clip of Jafargholi’s Britain’s Got Talent performance reportedly caught the attention of Jackson before his death. Jackson asked Jafargholi to join his 50-show residency at London’s O2 Arena.
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“Fabian and Ryan each bring a distinctive energy to the world Rachel Reid has created,” Tierney and co-executive producer Brendan Brady said in a statement. “They are bold, complicated, and deeply compelling characters, and finding actors who could really take on all of those different sides was so important to us. Daniel and Shaheen bring such confidence and emotional honesty to the roles. We can’t wait for audiences to see what they do with Fabian and Ryan and how they make these characters their own.”
What have Daniel Diemer and Shaheen Jafargholi been in before?
Diemer is known for the Netflix romance The Half of It, and most recently, for playing the cyclops Tyson in the Disney+ show Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Jafargholi, before his reality TV stint, had minor TV roles as a child. He also toured as a young Michael Jackson in Thriller – Live. He’s also known for EastEnders, Casualty, Wreck, and Lost Boys and Fairies.
Will Ryan and Fabian get their own season or special?
It’s not currently known if Ryan and Fabian’s book plot, which takes place before The Long Game, will be told in full, either interwoven into Season 2, or in a rumored standalone episode. There’s also a possibility they could have their own bottle episode like Season 1’s Scott and Kip. All details are being kept under wraps by the show’s creators.
Heated Rivalry, Season 2, TBA 2027, HBO Max
