Heated Rivalry is a Canadian sports romance television series created, written, and directed by Jacob Tierney for Crave. The show is based on the Game Changers book series by Rachel Reid and takes its name from the second book in the series, published in 2019. Hudson Williams plays Shane Hollander, and Connor Storrie plays Ilya Rozanov, two professional hockey players who keep a secret long-term romantic relationship while playing for competing teams. Other actors in the show include François Arnaud, Robbie G.K., Christina Chang, Ksenia Daniela Kharlamova, Sophie Nélisse, and Dylan Walsh.

The series was produced by Accent Aigu Entertainment and Bell Media. Most of the filming took place in Ontario, with Hamilton serving as a main location for scenes set in New York and Moscow. Important filming spots include Dundurn Castle, the FirstOntario Concert Hall, and the Sleeman Centre in Guelph for ice-related scenes. The show had its first public screening at the Image+Nation LGBTQ+ Film Festival in Montreal on November 23, 2025. The first season began airing on Crave on November 28, 2025, and was also released at the same time on HBO Max in the United States. HBO Max had bought the rights to the series nine days before the Canadian premiere. After the first season ended, Crave announced plans to make a second season, which will be released in spring 2027 and will be based on Reid’s 2022 sequel novel, The Long Game.

Heated Rivalry received praise from critics, who highlighted Jacob Tierney’s direction, the writing, and the chemistry between the lead actors. It became the most-watched original series on Crave and was the highest-performing non-animated show that HBO Max acquired. Media outlets have called the series a global success and a standout hit.

Premise

Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov are professional ice hockey players who play for rival fictional Major League Hockey teams, the Montreal Metros and Boston Raiders. Their on-ice rivalry is made more noticeable by media and public opinion. However, the two players develop a private, casual sexual relationship that happens sometimes over many years as they continue their careers.

Cast and characters

• Trevor Hayes as Boston General Manager
• Kaden Connors as Sasha, Ilya's former romantic partner and the son of Ilya's former coach
• Harrison Browne as Connors, Ilya's teammate
• Devante Senior as Miles, Rose's friend and co-star

• Arthur Moukhortov as Sorren Miitka, Shane's teammate and the Metros' goaltender
• Vitali Makarov as Sergei Vetrov, the Russian Minister of Interior, former Soviet goaltender, and Svetlana's father

• Aidan Shaw as Kolya Andropov, Shane's teammate
• Wayne Ward as Tom
• Billie Mary Silas and Sam Nicole Silas as Ruby and Emma Pike, Hayden and Jackie's daughters
• Foster Blake as Maxime, the bartender at Le Tambour
• Tyrone Edwards as himself
• Lainey Lui as herself

Production

The TV show Heated Rivalry is based on a series of books called Game Changers, which Rachel Reid wrote from 2018 to 2027. Reid was inspired by the real-life rivalry between Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin for the story. She also used real-life hockey players like Jaromír Jágr, Teemu Selänne, and Ilya Kovalchuk as models for the character Ilya Rozanov, and Wayne Gretzky and Paul Kariya as models for Shane Hollander.

Jacob Tierney first contacted Reid on August 7, 2023, after reading an article in The Washington Post about hockey romance novels. He had listened to the Game Changers series as an audiobook and wanted to turn the books into a TV show. Tierney was unsure at first if the story could be adapted without changing its explicit content. He explained that the show’s sexual scenes are important for character development, not just for drama. When discussing the project with potential funders, Tierney and producer Brendan Brady faced suggestions to change the story or its tone.

In January 2025, the streaming service Crave announced it had chosen the show, based on a script written by Tierney. Reid confirmed this on her blog. In March 2025, UK-based distributor Sphere Abacus joined Crave and Bell Media to fund the show, ensuring Tierney’s vision remained unchanged. In June 2025, Crave officially announced the series would be available on its platform. Tierney created, wrote, and directed the show. He also serves as an executive producer with Brendan Brady through their company, Accent Aigu Entertainment. Lori Fischburg is a producer, and Reid is a consulting producer.

In a podcast interview, Brady said each episode would cost about 3 million Canadian dollars (2.2 million U.S. dollars). Crave’s creative executive, Rachel Goldstein, advised Tierney not to include the book’s ending in the first season, as it might suggest a second season before it was confirmed. On December 12, 2025, Crave announced the show would return for a second season, with HBO Max as a key partner. The renewal followed strong viewer interest and streaming success. The second season will adapt The Long Game (2022), the sixth book in the Game Changers series, which follows Heated Rivalry. Tierney said the second season would not air at the same time as the first, due to delays in writing scripts. He also mentioned other writers might help with the season, though he plans to direct all episodes. Tierney also said he will include a scene showing Shane coming out to his team, an event that happened off-page in the book.

Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie play Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov, respectively. Other actors include François Arnaud, Robbie G.K., Christina Chang, Dylan Walsh, Sophie Nélisse, and Ksenia Daniela Kharlamova. Williams and Storrie signed on for three seasons. Both worked as restaurant waiters before being cast. Tierney said he needed actors who looked like real hockey players and were comfortable with nudity and intimacy. He also wanted the two leads to be cast together, as their relationship is central to the story. Williams and Storrie had strong chemistry during their first meeting, even though it was over Zoom. Casting was handled by Jenny Lewis and Sara Kay.

Storrie auditioned for the role shirtless, even though it was not required. Williams had chemistry reads with three actors, while Storrie had one. Storrie suggested Williams for the role, and Williams said Storrie felt like a natural match. Williams said he portrayed Shane as autistic, after confirming with Reid that the character is on the autism spectrum. He said his father, who is on the spectrum, inspired him.

Nadine Bhabha, who plays Elena, was the first cast member. She is a friend of Tierney’s and was offered the role directly. Arnaud, another friend, was surprised by the script but later supported the project after understanding how the sexual scenes advance the story. Christina Chang, who plays Shane’s mother, initially thought the script was similar to Fifty Shades of Grey but later called it amazing. Kharlamova, who plays Svetlana, said she wanted to challenge stereotypes about Russians in Western media, noting Russia has many ethnic groups and cultures.

Principal photography for the first season began in April 2025, with filming in Ontario and Quebec, Canada, over 36 days. Scenes included a Las Vegas hotel room encounter and hockey rink sequences filmed at the Sleeman Centre in Guelph. Real hockey players were used for team scenes, with body doubles for close-up shots of the lead actors. Williams was doubled by Jonah De Simone, and Storrie by Ralph Taggart.

The first-season finale was filmed in Muskoka. Montreal landmarks, such as Windsor Station and the Montreal Biosphere, appeared in the show. Shane’s apartment in the series is shown with a view of the Montreal skyline, and a framed picture of Saint Joseph’s Oratory of Mount Royal appears in Ilya’s hotel room. The show also includes references to Montreal neighborhoods like Mile End.

Release

The trailer for Heated Rivalry was released on October 9, 2025. The promotional posters for the series were photographed by Caitlin Cronenberg. On November 19, 2025, nine days before the series premiered on Crave, it was announced that HBO Max had bought the rights to show the series in the United States and Australia for a day-and-date global release. HBO Max’s purchase of the series, led by Casey Bloys, the company’s content chairman and CEO, and Jason Butler, the SVP of content planning and programming, was partly due to online buzz from the Game Changers fanbase, who campaigned for the show to be available worldwide. In December 2025, after the series was renewed for a second season, HBO Max also bought rights to show the series in Latin America, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand, the Philippines, Macau, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and parts of Europe, excluding the UK, Ireland, Spain, and Turkey.

Heated Rivalry was originally planned to release in February 2026, after the 2026 Winter Olympics. However, in late September, Tierney and the executives decided to move the release date earlier to take advantage of increased interest in new shows during the holiday season. The series premiered on Crave with two episodes on November 28, 2025, followed by weekly episodes, with the finale on December 26. Before its television debut, the first episode was shown at the 2025 Image+Nation festival in Montreal on November 23, 2025. The series is also available on Sky-owned Neon in New Zealand and Movistar Plus+ in Spain. On December 19, it began streaming on HBO Max in the Philippines. On January 10, 2026, it premiered on Sky in the UK and Ireland. In India, the series started streaming on Lionsgate Play on February 20, 2026.

The second season is expected to premiere in April 2027.

On December 10, 2025, the trailer for the series was shown at the Pride Night game between the Montreal Canadiens and the Tampa Bay Lightning.

In January 2026, HBO Max and the 2026 Winter Olympics organizing committee announced that Storrie and Williams would be torchbearers for the games’ torch relay. The two actors participated in Feltre, Italy, on January 25. HBO Max planned to begin streaming both Heated Rivalry and the 2026 Olympics to Italian viewers in February.

Reception

On the review website Rotten Tomatoes, 96% of 89 critics gave positive reviews. The website’s summary states: "Jacob Tierney lovingly adapts Rachel Reid’s hockey-themed romance novels into a passionate, dreamy love story that celebrates queer relationships, making Heated Rivalry a strong success." Metacritic, which calculates scores based on weighted averages, gave the season a score of 67 out of 100, based on 7 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.

Critics praised the performances of Williams and Storrie, as well as their chemistry. In The Washington Post, Rachel Kurzius wrote: "Their faces show a mix of complex emotions, their chemistry is strong, and Storrie’s Russian accent is impressive." For their roles in the first-season finale, TVLine named both Williams and Storrie as "Performers of the Week," while /Film called them the strongest breakout performances of the year. Williams also received praise for his portrayal of an autistic character. Time highlighted the performance as nuanced and non-stereotypical, based on an authentic understanding of autism. Time’s review was supported by the Autism Research Institute. Arnaud’s portrayal of Scott received widespread acclaim. Dominic Baez of The Seattle Times compared the "Hunter" episode to the acclaimed "Long, Long Time" episode from The Last of Us, calling it "a powerful, emotional addition" anchored by François Arnaud’s performance. Daniel Feinberg of The Hollywood Reporter noted that Arnaud and Storrie were ineligible for Emmy consideration due to submission rules, but highlighted Scott’s championship moment and Ilya’s Russian monologue as standout scenes.

David Caballero of Collider gave the series an 8 out of 10, noting effective early character development and the use of hockey in the story. Kaiya Shunyata of RogerEbert.com called the series "revolutionary" and "one of the most entertaining and significant queer shows of the year." The Globe and Mail’s J. Kelly Nestruck praised Tierney’s writing and direction, saying he explored homophobia in hockey and the challenges of being queer in Canada versus Russia without focusing too much on social issues. Despite not being legally available to stream in Russia due to anti-LGBTQ laws, the show earned an 8.3 user rating on Kinopoisk, making it one of the highest-rated shows in the country. Writing for Vanity Fair, Mikhail Zygar suggested Ilya Rozanov’s story likely resonated with the Russian queer community.

Lucy Mangan of The Guardian gave the show three stars out of five, saying it focused too much on explicit, idealized depictions of gay sex and not enough on character development. The show also sparked debate about the visibility of LGBT people in sports and media portrayals of gay and bisexual men.

Within weeks, commentators noted the show’s impact as a queer story and a romance novel adaptation. After two episodes aired, Harper’s Bazaar listed it among the best queer television series of all time. By the end of the year, the series ranked among the best TV shows of 2025 on lists from Cosmopolitan, The New York Post, Refinery29, The Seattle Times, and The Toronto Star. In April 2026, British Vogue included it among the 29th best TV shows of the century. Media outlets also noted the show’s appeal to hockey fans. Vogue Adria and InsideHook highlighted the Empty Netters podcast, hosted by former ice hockey players, for its enthusiastic coverage of the series, calling it an example of "non-toxic masculinity" in the sport.

The fifth episode received widespread acclaim. Tom Smyth of Vulture and Mads Misasi of Tell-Tale TV gave it perfect five-star ratings. Cody Schultz of Show Snob called it "a masterclass in storytelling" and one of the greatest television episodes of the year and all time. Whitney Evans of TV Fanatic praised the episode’s structure, pacing, and Storrie’s performance, including his Russian accent. Lissete Lanuza Sáenz of Fangirlish named it the best episode of the year, commending the performances of Williams and Storrie alongside the direction, cinematography, and writing. Lyra Hale highlighted the episode’s portrayal of intimacy as a model for romantic storytelling. BJ Colangelo of /Film praised the performances of Williams, Storrie, and Sophie Nélisse, and said the series and Storrie deserve Emmy recognition.

The episode also gained audience recognition. Shortly after its release, it entered IMDb’s rankings of highest-rated television episodes, achieving a rare perfect 10 out of 10 rating. For a time, it tied with Breaking Bad’s "Ozymandias" (2013) as the only episodes to receive a perfect rating on the platform. The series itself also entered IMDb’s Top 250 TV shows chart.

According to JustWatch, Heated Rivalry ranked fourth on its television streaming chart during the week of December 7, 2025. Whip Media, based on data from its TV Time platform, reported the series placed sixth during the weeks of December 7 and 14. FlixPatrol noted the series ranked second on HBO Max’s Top 10 most-watched series chart in the U.S. on November 29, behind It: Welcome to Derry. The series also debuted at number two in Australia and consistently ranks as the number one show each week. However, it ranked below the top ten in Nielsen streaming ratings. Nielsen classified Heated Rivalry as "acquired," since HBO Max obtained it from Crave, and compared it to long-running shows like Grey’s Anatomy or NCIS.

Alongside its second-season renewal, Deadline Hollywood reported the series became Crave’s most-watched original series to date, with viewership increasing by nearly 400% in its initial seven-day streaming window. Crave’s social media data showed a high "stickiness," with about one-third of viewers rewatching the entire season more than once. Fifteen percent of viewers completed the series five or more times, and episode five was the most rewatched.

HBO Max stated the show is the No. 2

Cultural impact and representation

After the 2025 premiere of the television series, lead actor Hudson Williams said the show connected with professional athletes who are not openly LGBTQ. During an interview on Radio Andy, Williams explained that he and author Rachel Reid received private messages from active players in the NHL, NFL, and NBA. These athletes shared stories about hiding their sexual identity. Williams said these messages showed that even though the show is "celebratory," its portrayal of challenges faced by LGBTQ athletes "affects people deeply." The NHL also recognized the show's influence, with a representative calling it a "special way" to attract new fans to the sport.

The series has also been mentioned in personal stories about coming out. Jesse Kortuem, a former hockey player from Minnesota, said the show inspired him to share his identity as gay. He left the sport before because he was afraid of being judged for his sexuality. Nicolás Keenan, an Argentine field hockey player, said an episode called "Hunter" reminded him of his own experience before publicly confirming his relationship with Dutch politician Rob Jetten.

Although the show includes LGBTQ characters and has had an impact, some experts, reporters, and former athletes say it has limits in changing culture. Adam Davies, a professor at the University of Guelph, said the series helps make LGBTQ people more visible but did not address deeper issues like unfair treatment of Black Canadians in hockey or past abuse scandals. Brock McGillis, the first openly gay professional men's hockey player, said he doubted the show would encourage players to come out. He appreciated the series but warned that showing secret relationships might make players worry about the risks of being openly gay in hockey.

The show is also noted for casting actors who identify as LGBTQ. François Arnaud, who plays Scott Hunter, is openly bisexual. Harrison Browne, a transgender actor and former professional hockey player, has a supporting role. The story in Heated Rivalry matches real-life data about LGBTQ athletes. A 2025 study of over 1,700 athletes found that about 39.4% of female athletes and 36.5% of male athletes hide their sexual identity in sports because of team culture and strict ideas about masculinity. These findings match the experiences of characters Shane and Ilya, who hide their identities to protect their careers. Research on college sports also shows that while non-LGBTQ athletes rarely worry about having LGBTQ teammates, LGBTQ athletes often hear homophobic language in locker rooms.