Heated Rivalry season 2 has been on every fan's mind since season 1 became a smash hit show at the end of 2025. Now, we are finally getting some key details from TV series creator Jacob Tierney himself.
People reported on June 2 that Tierney is releasing a new behind-the-scenes book about how the show got made—and hopefully, some reflection on how the cast and creators processed the series' breakout success. The book is titled I'll Believe in Anything, and will come out this fall, according to the outlet. (Amazon has a release date listed as October 13, and you can preorder it now.)
With that news came some updated information on the Heated Rivalry season 2 release date, and we couldn't be more excited to mark our calendars. Below, explore everything you need to know about Heated Rivalry season 2, plus info about future books in Rachel Reid's novel series.
What is Heated Rivalry about?
Heated Rivalry is a Crave original show adapted from Canadian author Rachel Reid's Game Changers book series, specifically the second book in the series, which is also called Heated Rivalry. Heated Rivalry focuses on the story of two rival hockey players, Japanese Canadian Shane Hollander and Russian Ilya Rozanov, who are two of the biggest stars in major league hockey.
According to the official synopsis shared by HBO Max, Shane and Ilya are “bound by ambition, rivalry, and a magnetic pull neither of them fully understands.” The synopsis continues: "What begins as a secret fling between two fresh-faced rookies evolves into a years-long journey of love, denial, and self-discovery. Over the next eight years, the pair chase glory on the ice while struggling to navigate their feelings off it. Torn between the sport they live for and the love they can’t ignore, Shane and Ilya must decide if there is room in their fiercely competitive world for something as fragile and as powerful as real love.”
The series was written, directed, and produced by Jacob Tierney, known for his work on Letterkenny. Per Variety, Reid also served as a consulting producer.
Who is in the cast of Heated Rivalry?
Heated Rivalry stars 24-year-old Korean Canadian actor Hudson Williams as Montreal Metros captain Shane Hollander, and 25-year-old Texas native Connor Storrie as Boston Raiders captain Ilya Rozanov. Additional cast members for the show include François Arnaud, Robbie G.K., Christina Chang, Dylan Walsh, Sophie Nélisse, and Ksenia Daniela Kharlamova.
How many Heated Rivalry episodes are there?
Heated Rivalry episodes premiered simultaneously on Crave in Canada and HBO Max in the United States and Australia. The first season of the show had six episodes in total, with one new episode debuting each Friday after its two-episode premiere.
Crave revealed the titles for all episodes in advance, except episode three, which premiered on December 5, and focused on François Arnaud's character, Scott Hunter, and Robbie G.K.'s Kip Grady, the titular roles for the first book in the Game Changers series.
Will there be a Heated Rivalry season 2?
Yes! HBO Max announced on December 12, 2025, that Heated Rivalry has officially been renewed for a second season. The streamer used a video of Williams and Storrie opening a present to reveal a puck reading “Heated Rivalry Season 2.” Williams added: “Hotter, wetter, longer.”
On June 2, People reported that Heated Rivalry season 2 officially has a release date (or release month, at least). The second season of the show will premiere in April 2027.
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Spoiler warning for book contents. If you don't want the show spoiled, stop reading here.
As Storrie confirms in the video, Heated Rivalry already has a part two. Reid continued Shane and Ilya's romance in book six of the Game Changers series, a sequel to Heated Rivalry called The Long Game. (It's also worth noting that all of the stories in the Game Changers world are actually intertwined and taking place in the same universe, so characters, including Shane and Ilya, do pop up or are mentioned here and there in other stories.)
Storrie talked to W Magazine about Heated Rivalry season 2: “I know the whole plot of where the books go, but I haven’t read the scripts for the next season,” he said. “I’d like to just deepen that vulnerability. We’ve played the game of discovery between Shane and Ilya, and now I want to play the game of knowing and understanding.”
When presenting The Long Game to her readers back in 2020, Reid wrote: “Just to be clear, this will be a full-length Shane and Ilya novel that will give them a more definite happy ending. More of a ‘happily ever after’ than a ‘happy for now.’ I am very excited to have the opportunity to write them again, and to continue their story.”
She added, “I promise that Shane and Ilya being in a somewhat stable relationship won’t mean that they will stop being antagonistic sh*theads to each other.”
Even before then, in 2019, Reid opened up about the ending of Heated Rivalry and how it was always her hope to continue Ilya and Shane's story. “There’s a reason why I left the ending where it was,” she said. “It was like wrapping up a season of a television show that you aren’t sure will be renewed—I tried to leave Shane and Ilya in a good place in case I never got the chance to finish their story.”
Speaking to Teen Vogue, Tierney said: “I think Rachel created a cool universe, and if people like it and respond to it, we are happy to keep making more—not forever, but there’s certainly more road to pave.”
So, season two is officially a go, but will it be the last? Well, likely not! In December 2025, GQ reported that both Williams and Storrie had signed on for three seasons of Heated Rivalry, and while season three has not yet been officially announced, the show will have original material to base it on. Which brings us to our next point…
What will Rachel Reid's next Game Changers book be about?
Shane and Ilya's story is not over yet. Following the success of the television series, the books' publisher, Harlequin, announced on January 12 that Reid would release her next novel, Unrivaled. With the seventh edition of the Game Changers series, the story remains focused on Shane and Ilya, continuing from the last book, The Long Game.
The synopsis reads: “A line has been drawn—and the hockey world is divided. For the first time in their professional hockey careers, Ilya Rozanov and Shane Hollander have nothing to hide. After more than a decade of keeping their love secret, they’re out, married, and even playing on the same team. The support has been incredible. Most of the time. While fans celebrate them, others in the hockey world are still reeling from the reveal. A growing backlash—led by the popular hockey podcast Top Shelf and the #TakeBackHockey movement—is making its presence felt. Standing together in the light was everything Shane and Ilya ever wanted. Now, they may be facing their biggest challenge yet.”
Though Unrivaled was initially set to release internationally on September 29, 2026, Reid has since announced that the release date for the long-anticipated threequel has been pushed to June 1, 2027.
Reid broke the news on February 24 in a video posted to her IG: “My life has gotten very different in the last couple of months, and although it's all good, it's also taken away my ability to have quality time to write,” she said, adding that, “there's nothing more important to me than Unrivaled being the best book it can possibly be.”
Reid shared that her Parkinson's symptoms have gotten worse lately, which has slowed her writing process, so for that reason, she's decided to push the publication date. "I hope that's not too long a wait for everyone," she said. “I just needed a few more months for writing, and my publisher has been gracious enough to give those to me.”
Reid said that preorders will be honored and that the book “will be worth the wait.” She also teased a new announcement coming soon that could “soften the blow” of the longer wait time for the book. Picture us intrigued.
You can watch the video in full below:
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Is there going to be a special episode before Heated Rivalry season 2 premieres?
Speaking to the Toronto Star, Justin Stockman, vice president of content development and programming at Bell Media, which is behind Heated Rivalry, revealed the team has discussed a standalone episode between seasons one and two to make the wait a little more bearable, though nothing is set in stone.
“We’re going to see what’s feasible,” Stockman said. “If [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. I would love to have this back for the holidays next year, but that likely is not going to happen. We can’t rush the process. We won’t be able to repeat the magic if we push him.”
Speaking to Variety in the past, Stockman had already opened up about how special the release window for season one was. “Originally, we were planning to air it in early 2026, [but] the holidays are generally a very high viewing period for Crave—when people are at home, and there’s not as much new television on traditional TV," he explained. "We were like, ‘We should try to get this on during the holidays, and really capitalize on a lot of eyeballs.’ So we moved it up at the last minute.”
This wouldn’t be the first time a massively popular show bridged the release time of two seasons with standalone episodes. HBO's Euphoria notably released two special episodes between seasons one and two, each focusing on a different protagonist. Following the finale of season one of Euphoria on August 4, 2019, HBO released the specials Trouble Don't Last Always and F*ck Anyone Who's Not a Sea Blob on December 4, 2020, and January 22, 2021, respectively, focusing on Zendaya's Rue and Hunter Schafer’s Jules. The show’s sophomore season then premiered on January 9, 2022. (Granted, Euphoria has always been notorious for its gaps between seasons.)
Should a special episode arrive in the gap between Heated Rivalry's two seasons, there’s plenty of content to base it on. Reid’s Heated Rivalry book actually features an epilogue, as well as a bonus story, which takes place three weeks after the epilogue, called “My Dinner with Hayden,” before Ilya and Shane announce their charity. There’s a chance those could work either as standalones or part of season two, potentially.
We will have to wait and see, but there's one thing we know for sure: Tierney doesn't want to rush things. “This isn’t what any of us expected, and I’m endlessly grateful for it. But it’s the kind of noise that I have to drown out to make the next two seasons," he told the Toronto Star. "I have to keep trusting myself. I have to keep doing what I did in the first place. That’s the way you’re going to get a good season two. It’s important for me to go back to what I love about this and remember the story I’m telling.”
This post will be updated as news about Heated Rivalry breaks.
