‘Heated Rivalry’ Season 2 Release Window Teased by Creator

Heated Rivalry will be back on television by April 2027, according to the series creator. Speaking with Gayle King on CBS Morning, via Deadline, series creator Jacob Tierney said Season 2 is currently being written and will begin filming in August 2026. King added that Heated Rivalry Season 2 is expected to air in April 2027, and Tierney and executive producer Brendan Brady did not deny it. Tierney added, “There will be more Heated Rivalry on your TVs, like, truly, as soon as humanly possible.”

With an April 2027 premiere window, Heated Rivalry Season 2 will debut just in time for author Rachel Reid’s next novel, Unrivaled, the third chapter in Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov’s love story. Originally set to hit bookshelves on Sep. 29, 2026, Unrivaled has since been delayed to June 2027. In an Instagram post dated Feb. 24, 2026, Reid cited the delay due to worsening Parkinson’s symptoms, which she was diagnosed with in 2023, around the time Tierney approached her about adapting Heated Rivalry as a series. Reid said:

“My life has gotten very different in the last couple months, and although it’s all good, it’s also taken away my ability to have quality time to write, And there’s nothing more important to me than ‘Unrivaled’ being the best book it can possibly be.”

‘Heated Rivalry’ Phenomenon Explained

Crave/Warner Bros.

Based on Rachel Reed’s 2019 novel, Heated Rivalry follows professional hockey players Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) and Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie), who secretly have an affair off the ice. The series chronicles their relationship over the span of nine years, and how the two rivals begin to fall in love with one another while struggling with concealing their sexual orientation from the world around them. Heated Rivalry debuted on Nov. 28, 2025, and quickly became a worldwide phenomenon.

Heated Rivalry has a 96% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and has been a ratings juggernaut for HBO Max, which streamed the series internationally from Crave who aired the series in Canada, with word of mouth building for the series each week it aired. Ticket sales for National Hockey League (NHL) games soared by 20% following the Heated Rivarly season premiere. Stars Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie have become overnight sensations, with Storrie set to host Saturday Night Live on Feb. 28, 2026.

Two weeks before Heated Rivalry Season 1 concluded, Season 2 was announced. The series will adapt The Long Game, the 2022 sequel to Heated Rivalry and the sixth book in Rachel Reed’s Game Changers franchise. Jacob Tierney had already confirmed Heated Rivalry Season 2 would not debut in November 2026, meaning fans would have to wait over a year for the series to return. With a new season of television and books hitting in 2027, it will be a good year for Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov.