Heated Rivalry came back for a second season faster than anyone expected, and it is further along than most people realise. Filming began in August 2026 and the target is April 2027, and the cast kept growing after the cameras started rolling.
Contents
Here is everything confirmed so far, and what it means if you were thinking of visiting the places it is shot.
The Confirmed Facts
- Renewed by Crave, remaining in the HBO Max family. It streams on Crave in Canada and HBO Max in the US.
- Target release: April 2027, with the studio talking about spring 2027 more broadly. Dates this far out move, so treat it as the plan rather than a promise.
- Filmed through summer 2026, with production running over August.
- Jacob Tierney returns as creator and showrunner, with Accent Aigu Entertainment producing alongside Bell Media’s Crave.
It Adapts The Long Game
Season two takes on The Long Game, the direct sequel in Rachel Reid’s Game Changers novels and the second book about Shane and Ilya.
Without spoiling a book that has been out for years: it picks up with the two of them actually committing to each other after a season of secrecy, and it is substantially more interested in the cost of that than the first was. The pressures of elite sport, the weight of staying closeted, and what it does to both of them. Season one was the affair. This one is the relationship.
One thing to watch: Tierney has floated the possibility that The Long Game gets split across more than one season rather than compressed into six episodes. That is a tease rather than an announcement, but it would fit a book with more story in it than the first.
The Cast
Returning
- Hudson Williams as Shane Hollander and Connor Storrie as Ilya Rozanov. The whole thing rests on them and they are both back.
- François Arnaud returns as Scott Hunter, along with Justice Smith and Charlie Gillespie.
New for season two
Crave announced a substantial expansion in August 2026:
- Emily Hampshire (Schitt’s Creek) as Vanessa.
- Edvin Ryding (Young Royals) as Luca Haas. Casting the lead of the other great queer coming-of-age series of recent years is not an accident.
- Robert Naylor as Wyatt Hayes.
- Sabrina Jalees as Farah Jalali and Priyanka, the drag performer, as Tarek.
- Daniel Diemer as hockey player Ryan Price, with Shaheen Jafargholi as his love interest, the musician Fabian Salah. A second couple, drawn from elsewhere in Reid’s books.
That is a much bigger ensemble than season one, which supports the theory that this is a wider adaptation of the Game Changers world rather than a straight six-episode run at one book.
Added in September 2026
A second round of casting landed on 3 September 2026, three weeks into filming, and it is the most revealing announcement yet about where the season is going.
- Milla Jovovich (The Fifth Element, Resident Evil) as Dr. Galina Molchalina, the Russian-speaking psychologist Ilya starts seeing in Ottawa.
- Kevin Zegers (Gossip Girl, Transamerica) as Coach Wiebe, who runs the Ottawa team Ilya plays for this season.
- Paul Gross (Due South, Slings & Arrows) as Commissioner Roger Crowell, the head of the league and the closest thing Rachel Reid’s books have to a villain.
Take those three roles together and the shape of the season is visible. Casting a therapist, and a Russian-speaking one at that, means the show is going properly into Ilya’s depression and his grief over his mother rather than skirting it. Casting the commissioner means the league politics, and the question of who gets to be out, is a real plot rather than background. And a new coach in a new city confirms that season two moves Ilya to Ottawa, as The Long Game does.
Casting Paul Gross as the antagonist is also a very Canadian in-joke. He is Due South, and putting the most beloved Mountie in television history in charge of the institution keeping two men closeted is not an accident.
What This Means If You Want to Visit
The travel angle, since that is what we actually do here.
- Go before it airs. The first season put a quiet corner of Ontario on the map and the locations got noticeably busier. A second wave around April 2027 is close to certain, so late 2026 and early 2027 is the window if you want the calm version.
- Season one’s locations are all still there, across Hamilton, Dundas and Toronto. Our episode-by-episode location guide covers every one of them with addresses.
- The town itself is worth the trip anyway. We wrote a separate weekend guide to Hamilton and Dundas, because the escarpment and the waterfalls justify the flight without a single hockey reference.
- Do not chase season two locations yet. Nothing has been confirmed, and location lists circulating before broadcast are guesswork. We will update once the episodes are out and the sets are identifiable.
Heated Rivalry Season 2: Your Questions Answered
When is Heated Rivalry season 2 released?
April 2027 is the target, within a broader spring 2027 window. It filmed through summer 2026. As with any date announced this far ahead, it can move.
What book is season 2 based on?
The Long Game by Rachel Reid, the direct sequel to Heated Rivalry and the second novel following Shane and Ilya. Showrunner Jacob Tierney has suggested it may be split across more than one season.
Are Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie coming back?
Yes. Both return as Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov, alongside François Arnaud, Justice Smith and Charlie Gillespie.
Where can I watch it?
Crave in Canada and HBO Max in the United States. Availability elsewhere varies by territory and has shifted since season one, so check locally.
Where is Heated Rivalry filmed?
Season one was shot across Hamilton, Dundas and Toronto in Ontario, with Guelph and Muskoka also used. Season two started filming in August 2026 and is shooting in Ontario again, but no official location list has been released. Note that Ottawa is where the story moves, not necessarily where it is shot: season one set scenes in cities it never filmed in.
Where to Stay
If the show is the reason you are going, base yourself in Hamilton or Dundas rather than Toronto: most of the recognisable places are there, and Dundas is the prettier stay. Toronto works for the hotel and gala scenes and is an hour away.
Our Hamilton and Dundas weekend guide goes through the neighbourhoods, the waterfalls and the booking rules properly.
More screen tourism: the full Heated Rivalry locations guide, Home Alone in Chicago and every film shot in Amsterdam.
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