Jacob Tierney Teases ‘Heated Rivalry’ Season 2

The Heated Rivalry hype prepare reveals no indicators of cooling down anytime quickly.

While some particulars are nonetheless below wraps, present creator Jacob Tierney hinted that the extremely anticipated Season 2, which is expected to premiere in April 2027might not cowl your complete plot of The Long Gamethe sixth and longest installment in Rachel Reid‘s Game Changers e book collection. This e book additionally serves as a direct sequel to Shane Hollander and Ilya Rosanov’s relationship after the depicted occasions in Heated Rivalry. “Who stated I’m doing all of it? There’s quite a bit of fabric,” Tierney coyly informed Deadline, suggesting that some storylines involving Shane and Ilya may proceed into one other subsequent season.

in The Long GameShane and Ilya are pressured to confront their fears and insecurities — battling codependency, despair, and self-perception — whereas attempting to take care of the love that binds them. To assist craft the complicated and mature nuances of the upcoming season, Tierney enlisted Michael Goldbach (North of North) as his co-writer.

​“Mike is not just an old, dear friend of mine who I’ve known for years. He’s legitimately one of my favorite writers,” Tierney stated. “I stated this to him simply the opposite day as a result of I’m about to learn his first draft of a script. I used to be like, ‘I’m so fucking fortunate that I get to learn your writing once more and it is for my present.’ He writes with a lot coronary heart and humor, and he is so sensible. But he additionally does a factor the place he all the time zigs the place you are presupposed to zag.”

Tierney additionally defined how the writing duo would stay trustworthy to the supply materials whereas mapping out a brand new season for the hockey rivals-turned-official-secret-lovers.

“When I talked to Rachel for the first time about Heated RivalryI wanted to take this seriously because I think that’s what this material deserves. There’s a version of it that’s pulpy and soapy, but I wanted to take it seriously because I am really transfixed by this relationship,” he stated. “Part of what transfixed me was knowing where it was going with The Long Game. Rachel took them very seriously, and these little tidbits in the first book become real issues for them [later]. The Long Game it’s like sex Scenes from a Marriage. I don’t want to say we are making Bergman here, but you’ve got your happy ending, you’re in love, you get to be in a relationship. But, as most adults know, you think that’s when it gets easy? It’s not. That’s when it gets hard. That’s when you have to make real decisions. “That’s when real life can often smack you in the face.”

Is there strain in attempting to stability the brand new materials’s heavy drama with the buzzy onscreen romance? Tierney assures that he and Goldbach have regular arms. “We’re continuing to take this relationship on a journey that will end happily, but along the way it is full of ups and downs and realizing loads of shit about yourself, about your partner and about how you want to live and what it means to live as a queer couple in the world and what you want out of your privacy and your public life,” Tierney stated. “We’re simply persevering with to offer Shane and Ilya the seriousness that this love affair deserves whereas additionally persevering with to exist inside the confines of the style that we’re in, which I really like. I would like them to be blissful, however I additionally wish to present that that is not simple. Because a part of what Rachel does so brilliantly in her writing is to offer queerness pleasure, but in addition not faux the world is not the world. It’s not like she created this world the place it is like, there is no homophobia and hockey’s superb, and anybody can come out. No. She reveals it is troublesome, it takes braveness, guts, and sacrifice, and it takes stepping up and saying issues together with your full chest.

With this emotional rollercoaster looming, Tierney is however excited for everybody to get their arms—and eyes—on it. He is very enthusiastic for his leads Hudson Williams and Connor Storriewho, in fact, should bear the large weight of bringing this passionate and barely dysfunctional relationship to life.

“[Michael’s] script is exactly what I want from acting. It’s what I want from all aspects of this phenomenally collaborative business,” Tierney explained. “I love to be surprised, and I know his writing is going to surprise me. He’s going to put things in that I never thought of, and that’s so interesting and exciting. I feel excited to give Hudson and Connor these scripts again and see what they think and what they’re going to do. Or what my cinematographer Jackson [Parrell] and Aidan [Leroux]my production designer, are going to do. It’s so fun to go back into this world. What a treat for me.”​

Turning to a different side of the present’s affect, Tierney addressed the complexities of on-line fandom. The present has seen each assist and problematic parasocial conduct because it has grown in huge reputation. This dynamic got here to the forefront in March, when Williams and his co-stars, François Arnaud and Ksenia Daniela Kharlamovaaddressed discriminatory remarks from a subset of self-proclaimed followers on social media in a joint statement on their respective platforms. Williams has been focused for his half-Korean heritage. Kharlamova, who’s Russian-Trinidadian, has been criticized for taking part in a personality whose e book counterpart is white European. And Arnaud has been focused for his bisexuality.

“Don’t call yourself a fan if you share racist / homophobic /biphobic/ misogynistic/ ageist/ ableist/ parasocial/ mustache comments of any kind,” the assertion learn on William’s Instagram. “None of us need your hateful ‘love’. We all respect and support and love each other and are on the same side. If you can’t accept that then gtfoh.”

Cast members Robbie GK, Reid, and Tierney additionally reposted the message on their respective Instagram tales.

“We didn’t expect any of this attention or reaction from a public that might not exist at all,” Tierney mirrored. “We’ve learned a lot [since the show aired]and there’s a lot to think about moving forward in terms of the fandom and all that comes with it, negative and positive.”

Tierney shared that an neglected piece of the present’s booming success, along with reaching the feminine, romance, and queer demographics, is that it stars an individual of coloration. “We have a non-white lead. I think that’s fuckin’ important,” he stated. “We can learn a few lessons out of that: you don’t need to be making an Asian show to have an Asian lead. Hudson’s a fucking star, man.”

In the previous, different actors have expressed related views. Some really feel studio heads and executives haven’t spoken up sufficient for them amid coping with poisonous fanbases. Recently, actor Paapa Essiedu awning The Times UK he was dealing with main dying threats for being forged as Severus Snape within the upcoming HBO TV adaptation of harry potter.

HBO Chairman and CEO of HBO and Max Content Casey Bloys told Deadline about his in-house technique for coping with the darkish facet of fandom. “Any large IP-based present will include built-in fan bases that really feel strongly about it. It’s like with anything: You simply should get in enterprise with folks you belief…and have a producing staff with them that you just consider in and assist them as a lot as you’ll be able to, to the extent that you would be able to. You should tune out the noise and do the perfect present potential. Interest can tip over into extra disagreeable and aggressive conduct. We talked to [our Harry Potter cast and crew] about what to anticipate, what to anticipate on social media, and the way we deal with it, however any form of safety that is wanted is an unlucky side of doing IP reveals. “We just try to be mindful and monitor it.”

​Stay tuned for extra of Deadline’s dialog with the creatives behind Heated Rivalrytogether with Sphere Abacus and Bell Media, in our upcoming 2026 Disruptors + Cannes Issue in May.