Get ready to wipe the steam off the TV screen. Season 2 of the Peabody Award-winning series about two hockey rivals entangled in a heated romance is still months away from premiering. But details are slowly emerging that paint a picture of what fans can expect from the sophomore season of “Heated Rivalry.”
The first season’s release schedule was accelerated in the U.S. after it was acquired by HBO Max from Bell Media’s streaming platform Crave, Justin Stockman, the VP of content for Bell Media, told Variety late last year.
Things will be different for the upcoming season, which was announced in December 2025, creator Jacob Tierney told Variety. Tierney wrote and directed every episode of the first season.
“It can’t be the same time next year, because this time last year I’d written five of [six episodes], and this time this year I’ve written zero of them. So it’s going to be a little bit later, but it’s still going to be soon.”
“Soon” has now turned into spring 2027, when it is slated to hit HBO Max.
Here’s everything to know about Season 2 of “Heated Rivalry”:
What book will Season 2 cover?
The first season was based on the second book in the “Game Changers” series by Rachel Reid. It followed the off-the-ice romance between two professional hockey stars that play for the rival teams the Montreal Metros and the Boston Raiders in a fictional Major League Hockey league.
The new season will continue their romance and will be based on the sixth book, “The Long Game,” which reads as a direct sequel to “Heated Rivalry.” The novel follows Shane Hollander, played by Hudson Williams, and Ilya Rozanov, portrayed by Connor Storrie, as they struggle with going public with their secret relationship.
The follow-up season will also introduce a new couple — from the fifth book in the series, “Role Model” — a player who’s traded to a struggling team finds support from the franchise’s social media manager.
Who will play the new couple?
Justice Smith (“I Saw the TV Glow”) and Charlie Gillespie (“Splitsville”) will be joining Season 2 of the hit romantic drama as Harris Drover and Troy Barrett, respectively.
Character descriptions were not released, but in Reid’s book Troy is a hockey player who gets traded to the Ottawa team after cutting ties with a Toronto teammate who is accused of sexual assault. Harris is Ottawa’s social media manager.
Who else is joining the cast?
Season 2 will also welcome new faces to the cast, including Emily Hampshire from “Schitt’s Creek,” Edvin Ryding from “28 Years Later,” Robert Naylor from “Mile End Kicks,” Sabrina Jalees from “I Used to Be Funny” and Priyanka from “Meet Me Next Christmas.”
Hampshire will play Vanessa, Ryding will portray Luca Haas, Naylor is cast as Wyatt Hayes, Jalees will take on Farah Jalali and Priyanka is Tarek.
How many episodes are in the new season?
Did Dylan Walsh, who plays Shane’s dad, reveal too much? The actor recently paused his account on the celebrity video app Cameo after he slipped up and released information about the new season.
“Getting ready to go back up to Canada and shoot some more episodes … I think we’re doing 12 this time,” Walsh said in a clip recorded for a fan.
The number is significantly more than the first season‘s six episode-run. However, Tierney told The Times early this year that he doesn’t want to make more than six episodes per season so there’s a possibility that they’re filming two seasons back to back.
Walsh’s Cameo account has been set as unavailable until August 2027 with a message under his profile that reads, “Stepping away because a video went viral that got me in trouble.”