Heated Rivalry Season 2 Adds Emily Hampshire, Edvin Ryding, Robert Naylor, Sabrina Jalees, and Priyanka

The Heated Rivalry cast is expanding again for its highly anticipated second season. 

Crave has announced that six new cast members will be joining Hudson Williams as Shane Hollander and Connor Storrie as Ilya Rozanov.

The new additions include Emily Hampshire (Schitt’s Creek) as Vanessa; Edvin Ryding (Young Royals) as Luca Haas; Robert Naylor (Mile End Kicks) as Wyatt Hayes; Sabrina Jalees (Black Mirror) as Farah Jalali; and Priyanka as Tarek (Drag Brunch Saved My Life).

This news comes on the heels of Justice Smith (Generation) and Charlie Gillespie (Julie and the Phantoms) joining the show last week. Smith will star as Harris Drover, and Gillespie will play Troy Barrett.

Both are leading roles alongside Williams and Storrie. In Rachel Reid’s Game Changer books, on which Heated Rivalry is based, Harris and Troy are the lead couple of the fifth book, Role Model.

“Rachel Reid has given us two beautifully layered characters in Harris and Troy who you can’t help but root for,” creator and executive producer Jacob Tierney and executive producer Brendan Brady said about Smith and Gillespie’s casting.

“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,” they 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,” Tierney and Brady concluded.

The first season followed rival hockey players Hollander and Rozanov. “Bound by ambition, rivalry, and a magnetic pull neither of them fully understood, what began as a secret fling between two fresh-faced rookies evolved into a years-long journey of love, denial, and self-discovery,” per the show’s logline. 

Heated Rivalry debuted with a two-episode premiere on Crave in Canada and HBO Max internationally in November 2025. On the same day that Heated Rivalry Season 1 Episode 4, “Rose,” premiered, Crave renewed the show.

The six-episode first season ended with Heated Rivalry Season 1 Episode 6, “The Cottage,” in December 2025. 

Jacob Tierney serves as Heated Rivalry‘s showrunner, writer, director, and executive producer. Brendan Brady and Jayme Alter Wilson serve as executive producers. Lori Fischburg and Liane Cunje are producers, with author Rachel Reid as consulting producer.

Mike Goldbach serves as co-writer on Heated Rivalry Season 2.

The show is commissioned by Bell Media’s Crave, with the participation of the Canada Media Fund (CMF) and the Bell Fund. Sphere Abacus, a Bell Media company. distributes the show internationally. 

Heated Rivalry Season 2 is still slated to premiere in Spring 2027.

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Heated Rivalry Season 1 is streaming on HBO Max.

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