Heated Rivalry star Hudson Williams is set to make his late-night debut.
The 24-year-old breakout is slated to join The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Jan. 7 for his first late night talk show. Chelsea Handler and Sophie Turner are also guests on Wednesday’s episode. Sienna Spiro is the musical guest.
Williams and his co-star Connor Storrie have shot to stardom over the last month following the release of Heated Rivalry, a queer romance series from Canadian streamer Crave, which airs on HBO Max in the U.S. The show, created for television by Letterkenny alum Jacob Tierney, centers around a fictional hockey universe.
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“At the end of the day, [this experience] still feels reminiscent of an overnight success,” Williams told The Hollywood Reporter in an interview last month. “There’s no way to prepare for what this side of things looks like.”
Heated Rivalry focuses on two rival professional hockey players — Canada-born Shane Hollander (Williams) of the fictitious Montreal Metros and Russia-born Ilya Rozanov (Storrie) of the fictitious Boston Raiders — as they navigate a years-long secret fling.
Wednesday’s Tonight Show appearance marks the first late night interview for any cast from the Canadian hockey romance series. The romance series was already gaining traction online ahead of its premiere, but it’s become increasingly popular since its debut, even showing a meaningful bump in streams for the music featured on the show.
Williams and Storrie recently reunited for an audio romance series, Ember & Ice, for the audio erotica platform Quinn. Crave has ordered a second season of Heated Rivalry, but it’s unclear when that will air as Tierney has said he still has to write the season. The show’s sixth episode, the last of its first season, aired on Crave and HBO on Dec. 26. It premieres this week (Jan. 10) on Sky in the U.K. and Ireland.
