Heated Rivalry leads walk the Vanity Fair carpet in matching mesh tops
Heated Rivalry stars Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams hit the Vanity Fair after party in matching mesh tops.
USA TODAY
NEW YORK – Much to the disappointment of fans, “Heated Rivalry” stars Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie did not join the show’s panel at BookCon. But they did get a few Season 2 insights.
At the first in-person BookCon in seven years, approximately 3,000 fans of the steamy hockey romance greeted author Rachel Reid and show creator Jacob Tierney with ear-splitting screams on April 18. Many sported shirts that read “I’m coming to the cottage” and “Ask me about our lord and savior Ilya Rozanov.”
The two extra chairs on the stage caused a stir on social media and in-person ahead of the talk. Would Williams and Storrie make a surprise appearance? They did not, though the show’s stars did send in questions for Reid and Tierney. Storrie’s was a voice memo recording played for the crowd, a consolation prize. The extra chairs were simply the default setup for the weekend, BookCon organizers told USA TODAY.
Rachel Reid, Jacob Tierney tease ‘Heated Rivalry’ Season 2
“Heated Rivalry” sSeason 2 will largely be based on “The Long Game,” set 10 years later. But, like Scott and Kip’s “Game Changer” storyline in Season 1, another couple will also get airtime. Reid and Tierney teased that the second season will also include “Role Model,” a grumpy-sunshine romance between Troy Barrett, a recently traded player, and Harris Drover, the team’s chipper social media manager.
“Troy’s a really damaged guy, and Troy is quite damaged on the show. I would say we’re digging into that harder, because that’s what’s interesting and that’s all there in those books,” Tierney said. “That’s why it’s such a fertile playground for me as a creator to have fun.”
He added, “But Ilya and Shane are the heartbeat of this series, of my show. It’s always going to be about Ilya and Shane.”
Though he told Deadline in a recent interview that he was weighing splitting “The Long Game” into two seasons, he kept mum when asked about it on the panel.
“It really is different. The challenge of it is from an adaptation point of view is that you’re in much more serious territory. There’s still lots of flirting and there’s lots of sex. (But) it’s like this kind of danger, this kind of hotel room, adolescent sex stuff is largely gone. And so it presents really new challenges.” Tierney said. “‘The Long Game’ is an emotionally sophisticated book that takes this couple seriously.”
The ‘whole world seems to care’ about Ilya and Shane
While fans await a release date and casting decisions for Season 2 (even Jill Biden threw her hat in the ring), they at least know Reid’s new novel, “Unrivaled,” will be out June 1, 2027. Shane and Ilya’s third story was initially set for a September publication date, but Reid pushed it back because of how overwhelming the last few months have been.
“I have a little bit of regret deciding to write a book at the same time, but I am excited,” Reid said on the panel. “I’m in a place where the whole world seems to care about what happens next to these characters or has thoughts about them. … But I’m still determined to try to just stick to what I have always done when I was writing, just kind of pretend that I’m just writing for me and I hope other people like it.”
Clare Mulroy is USA TODAY’s Books Reporter, where she covers buzzy releases, chats with authors and dives into the culture of reading. Find her on Instagram, subscribe to our weekly Books newsletter or tell her what you’re reading at [email protected].
