Heated Rivalry has found its Troy Barrett and Harris Drover.
Charlie Gillespie and Justice Smith are joining the highly anticipated season two of the queer hockey romance series as leading roles alongside Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie. Gillespie has been cast as Troy Barrett, a professional hockey player who is traded to the Ottawa Centaurs in Rachel Reid’s source material. Smith has been cast as Harris Drover, the team’s social media manager.
Harris and Troy’s budding relationship drives Reid’s novel Role Model, the fifth installment of her Game Changers series, which Heated Rivalry the series is based on. “Rachel Reid has given us two beautifully layered characters in Harris and Troy who you can’t help but root for,” showrunner Jacob Tierney and executive producer Brendan Brady said in a release.
“From the start of the casting process, we knew we were looking for actors who could create something truly special together and bring that same depth and heart to the screen. Justice and Charlie do exactly that,” the continued. “They immediately connected with the vulnerability and resilience at the core of these characters, bringing an instinctive understanding of who Harris and Troy are.”
Ottawa is expected be the season two home for one of the Jacob Tierney-created show’s main characters, Ilya Rozanov, played by Storrie, who moves to the low-ranking Canadian team. The Russian hockey player made the decision to move to the team in the finale of the show’s first season to be closer to Heated Rivalry’s other main character and his now-boyfriend, Shane Hollander, played by Williams.
Season one of the award-winning show was adapted from the second novel in the Game Changers series, Heated Rivalry, which focuses on the ever-complicated situationship between Shane and Ilya, who are generational talents in the world of professional hockey and sworn on-ice rivals. The first novel of Reid’s book series, Game Changers, centered on François Arnaud’s character Scott Hunter and Robbie G.K.’s character Kip Grady, served as secondary material for the first season.
Connor Storrie (left) as Ilya Rozanov and Hudson Williams (right) as Shane Hollander in episode four of Heated Rivalry.
Crave/Bell Media
Season two of Heated Rivalry will be adapted from Reid’s sixth novel in the series, The Long Game, which continues Shane and Ilya’s story. The novel finds the hockey players now in a committed relationship with one another and learning how to build a life together while hiding their true feelings for one another in public. Tierney has said that Role Model, which takes place concurrently with The Long Game, will also be source material for the season.
Tierney created, wrote and directed Heated Rivalry. He’s returning for season two has added another writer for the second season. The show, which premiered in November 2025, made near-instant stars of Williams and Storrie, who were both working as waiters when they booked the roles. Williams won a Canadian Screen Award for his portrayal of the professional hockey player.
Crave renewed Heated Rivalry for a second season early into the show’s first season run. HBO Max has confirmed it will continue to air the series. The show will begin shooting its second season this month and is aiming for a spring 2027 release.
Tierney serves as writer, director and executive producer on the series. Brady and Jayme Alter Wilson serve as executive producers, alongside Lori Fischburg and Liane Cunje as producers. Reid serves as a consulting producer. Mike Goldbach joins season two as co-writer alongside Tierney.
The series was commissioned by Bell Media’s Crave, with the participation of the Canada Media Fund and is produced by Tierney and Brady’s Accent Aigu Entertainment.
Smith is represented by WME and Sloane, Offer, Weber & Dern; Gillespie is represented by Vanderwerff Talent, David Dean Management and Meyer & Downs, LLP; Storrie is represented by CAA, Atlas Artists, Shelter PR, and Yorn, Levine, Barnes; Williams is represented by CAA, Red Management, The Lede Company, M Public Relations and Hansen Jacobson.
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