Hudson Williams as Shane and Connor Storrie as Ilya share an intimate moment at the awards on Heated RivalryImage via Crave
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Giovana Gelhoren
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Giovana Gelhoren is a High-Trending Topics Writer at Collider, where she covers all the most-talked about stars, movies and TV shows. She’s a proud Latina, hailing all the way from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in Journalism and International Studies. She’s known among her friends as an encyclopedia of celebrities and will watch just about every type of media (especially if said friends are around to watch it with her). She's also interviewed many celebrities during her career, some favorites including Anne Hathaway, Halle Berry, Pamela Anderson, Jamie Lee Curtis, Brenda Song, Jordin Sparks, and many more.
Sign in to your Collider account Add Us On Summary Generate a summary of this story follow Follow followed Followed Like Like Thread 1 Log in Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents: Try something different: Show me the facts Explain it like I’m 5 Give me a lighthearted recapThe Heated Rivalry fever is far from over. As the steamy HBO Max and Crave Canada romance continues to win over fans, the series, which was officially renewed for Season 2 on December 12, 2025, has plenty of exciting plans for the future. After all, with Rachel Reid's novels as inspiration, series creator Jacob Tierney has plenty to go off of to continue Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) and Ilya Rosanov's (Connor Storrie) love story.
Shane and Ilya Will Continue to Test Their Relationship in Season 2
While Reid's Game Changers collection has six books so far, only two books focus on Shane and Ilya: the second, Heated Rivalry, and the sixth, titled The Long Game. And while the synopsis for Season 2 of the TV show has yet to be revealed, Storrie hinted in the Season 2 announcement on Instagram that The Long Game will indeed be the main source of inspiration. "Start reading The Long Game if you want spoilers," he said.
So, what happens in The Long Game? After falling for each other in the first book, the 2022 novel starts off with Shane and Ilya in a committed relationship, with Ilya moving to Ottawa to be closer to Shane. The two of them also create a joint charity together, the Irina Foundation, inspired by Ilya's late mother. But as their public friendship gets established through the charity, Shane and Ilya still keep their relationship under wraps, with Shane growing more and more anxious that coming out could threaten his chances of success, and securing another Stanley Cup. In the meantime, Ilya's career begins to spiral as his traumatic past in Russia and his secret relationship with Shane takes a toll, and slowly snowballs into a deep depression.
Throughout the book, Shane and Ilya's relationship continues to get tested, with a major fight between them leading them to a crossroads. But after Ilya has a traumatic moment on a plane, the two of them reconcile, and Shane proposes. Around the same time, a video of the two of them kissing goes viral, and they refuse to hide their relationship any further and proudly announce it to the world instead. By the end of the book, Shane and Ilya get married, join the same Ottawa team, and even start thinking about having a family together.
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Posts By Denis Kimathi'Unrivaled' Indicates a Major Shift to Shane and Ilya's Story
Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie) and Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) in the 'Heated Rivalry' Season 1 finale.Image via Crave
But while Shane and Ilya's relationship hits a major milestone at the end of The Long Game, their story continues and hits another road bump in the seventh Game Changers book, Unrivaled, set to come out on September 29, 2026. In their third book together, Shane and Ilya's narrative takes a turn, shifting from a question of whether the couple survives to whether the world around them can. The synopsis of Unrivaled reads:
They’ve gotten a lot of love from fans who are thrilled for them. But some people in the hockey world are still reeling from their relationship reveal, and the backlash—led by popular hockey podcast Top Shelf and the #TakeBackHockey movement—is getting louder. Ilya and Shane are finally able to stand together in the light, the way they’d always wanted. And now they might be facing their biggest challenge yet.
By doing so, Reid deliberately shifts conflict away from the couple's relationship and onto external backlash, making the media, fandom, and hockey culture the primary antagonists. "I had no interest in writing again if I had to drag them both through hell," Reid told journalist Matthew Francis. "It’s really a good vs evil story. The conflict is largely external. It's a lot about backlash." Readers and viewers will no longer be worried about Shane and Ilya "making it," or if a fight of theirs could be their final blow, and instead worried about how they'll work together through the backlash, and still come out the other side. That choice signals that future storytelling—on page or screen—will be less about emotional instability between the characters and more about the cost of visibility once their love is no longer hidden.
Subscribe for Deeper Heated Rivalry Analysis and Spoilers
Want more on Heated Rivalry? Subscribe to the newsletter for spoiler-ready breakdowns, source-to-screen comparisons, character-arc analysis, and thoughtful takes on how the books shape the show's future. Subscribe By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.So, while the potential Season 3 of Heated Rivalry would certainly be a shift in theme and tone, the series could thrive by changing the focus to a broader and more universal question: how a queer couple navigates power, hostility, and public scrutiny after a happily-ever-after. After all, following two seasons of their bumpy, hidden romance, having them as a secure, established couple could be a well-deserved reprieve, while still escalating stakes and making for some great TV.
With that said, while Season 2 of Heated Rivalry has already been confirmed, the sophomore season is still a while away. Tierney indicated that the series will likely be released only in 2027, with the third season, inspired by Reid's upcoming Unrivaled, still unconfirmed. But as viewers of the show wait to see how Shane and Ilya's love story pans out, and adjusts in its final chapter, The Long Game can already provide some major spoilers.
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Heated Rivalry
Like Follow Followed TV-MA Drama Romance Sports Release Date November 28, 2025 Network Crave Directors Jacob TierneyCast
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Connor Storrie
Ilya Rozanov
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Hudson Williams
Shane Hollander
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Heated Rivalry
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HBO Max
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