Heated Rivalry Officially Returning In Fall 2026 With New Release
Rianna is the Movie News Editor for ScreenRant. After earning her BA in Film Studies, she began her career as an entertainment writer, contributing to several publications before joining ScreenRant. Her dissertation on the impact of streaming on traditional cinema sharpened her focus on the ever-evolving world of film and media. With 6 years in the industry, Rianna continues to cover the stories she loves while also advocating for awareness and representation of rare disabilities, such as Moebius Syndrome, which she lives with.
Heated Rivalry is back on skates.
HBO and Crave’s hit queer hockey series Heated Rivalry was adapted from Rachel Reid’s novel series and has become an international phenomenon. The series averaged over 10 million viewers per episode in the U.S. alone and consistently broke streaming records. The adaptation originally premiered on the Canadian network Crave, but HBO saw potential and brought the series onto the global stage.
Heated Rivalry will be returning in a whole new format this October as series creator Jacob Tierney is releasing a behind-the-scenes book about the making of the major sports romance series. People broke the news that Tierney would be releasing the novel I’ll Believe in Anything, which includes the first season’s annotated scripts as well as a look at the casting, costume design, and more.
Tierney’s book was done in collaboration with producing partner Brendan Brad and the production company Accent Aigu. It will answer fan questions such as the balancing act between the two main relationships shown in season 1, which was between Ilya Rozanov (played by Connor Storrie) and Shane Hollander (played by Hudson Williams), as well as Kip Grady (played by Robbie Graham-Kuntz) and Scott Hunter (played by Francois Arnaud).
Heated Rivalry‘s creator spoke about I’ll Believe in Anything and stated:
“I’ve always believed creating a show is a collaborative experience, and that getting it from script to screen means it evolves through every conversation and discovery along the way.With this book, the intention was to invite everyone who loves the show to sit beside me and the team, not just to see what we made, but to understand why we made it. I wanted it to feel personal, like a natural extension of the story audiences connected with from the very beginning.”
The news of another Heated Rivalry release comes after the update that season 2 will be released in April 2027 and will be adapting Reid’s sixth novel in the Game Changers series titled The Long Game. The book begins right where season 1 left off as Shane and Ilya begin navigating this whole new world of being in an official relationship but maintaining as much privacy as possible. However, a major near-death experience could change everything.
Tierney’s novel I’ll Believe in Anything is set to be released on October 13 and is now available to be preordered, and Heated Rivalry is available to stream on HBO.
Source: screenrant.com
