Heated Rivalry Season 2 filming as Hudson Williams describes surreal return
Hudson Williams says pulling Shane Hollander's jersey back on felt strange in the best way.
Williams, who plays Shane in Heated Rivalry, told a TIFF question-and-answer session that returning for Season 2 was surreal. The new season was filming in Toronto in September 2026, according to Deadline.
He said co-star Connor Storrie, who plays Ilya Rozanov, shot first. Storrie worked day one. Williams started on day two.
Storrie told him he spent that first day back wondering if he was just doing an impression of Ilya. Williams said he had the exact same thought when his own first day arrived.
Showrunner Jacob Tierney, the writer-producer in overall charge of the series, helped close that gap. Williams credited Tierney with helping both actors slip back into character quickly.
Familiar faces behind the camera helped too. Williams said Season 2 uses the same crew as Season 1, and Tierney has kept the set feeling as small and tight as it did the first time round.
For anyone new to the show, Heated Rivalry is a six-episode, one-hour romantic drama about rival hockey players Shane and Ilya. Shane is captain of the Montreal Metros. Ilya plays for the Boston Raiders. The series launched with two episodes on Nov. 28, and Crave, the Canadian streamer that ordered it, has greenlit a second season, meaning it commissioned another run, according to Bell Media.
Season 2 is set to premiere in spring 2027. Co-writer Mike Goldbach is part of the writing team.
The new season adds a long list of cast members. They include Justice Smith, Charlie Gillespie, Daniel Diemer, Shaheen Jafargholi, Emily Hampshire, Edvin Ryding, Robert Naylor, Sabrina Jalees, Priyanka, Brendan Morgan, David Tomlinson, Gerry Dee, Michelle Mylett, Lauren Chan and Nick Stahl.
The hockey romance already has a visible live following. Fans wearing Hollander and Rozanov jerseys filled Fenway Park for a Heated Rivalry event, where author Rachel Reid, who wrote the books behind the series, teased ‘Unrivaled’ in an interview, according to Deadline.
What makes this stand out is how quickly the production has turned. Same crew, same leads, new faces around them. And spring 2027 is now the date to keep free.
