Since its Thanksgiving weekend premiere, the steamy television adaptation of Rachel Reid’s 2019 novel “Heated Rivalry” has taken social media by storm, propelling the series to the No.1 spot on HBO Max as the first season heads into its finale Friday.
## A New Season, A New Fanbase
The show follows Canadian Shane Hollander and Russian Ilya Rozanov, who maintain a decade-long secret relationship that blends slow-building yearning with explicit sexual scenes. Jacob Tierney, who developed, wrote and directed the series, said he was drawn to the project for its “pure queer joy.” Audiences have responded with a passionate reaction, and the series has generated fresh interest in the “Game Changers” book series it is based on and drawn attention to sports romance fiction, especially stories with queer storylines.
## Behind the Scenes: From Page to Screen
Originally developed for the Canadian streaming service Crave, the show scored a distribution deal with HBO and has already been renewed for a second season. Tierney said, “Unashamedly, when pitching, it was just like, this is a Harlequin romance. This has a happy ending.” He added, “This is about two boys in love and a lot of sex.”
## Why Fans Are Hooked
Mackenzie Walton, who edited the “Heated Rivalry” novel, said the genre’s staying power comes from how deeply the stories immerse readers in the sport itself. “It’s much more common when I read a hockey romance that I get the sense that hockey is important at the heart of the book, and I think readers really respond to that sense of authenticity,” Walton said. According to Harlequin, the publisher, Reid’s six-novel “Game Changers” series has sold 650,000 copies since the first was published in 2018. Leah Koch, co-owner of the romance bookstore The Ripped Bodice, wrote, “Anytime Hollywood pays attention to, and respects, romance fans, they notice and show their appreciation.” She added that producing a high-quality adaptation signals a growing recognition of queer readers’ cultural interests and economic impact.
## Casting Matters
Josh Banfield, a content creator who has made Instagram videos about the show since its November premiere, believes part of the show’s popularity with queer fans is the slow-burning aspect of Shane and Ilya’s romance. “There’s something nice about seeing the yearning and seeing that they do maintain contact with each other and still have this connection,” Banfield said. Fans and the creators behind the book and TV show credit the lead actors, Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams, for the show’s success. Tierney said he knew they were his Ilya and Shane almost instantly. “The show was going to live and die based on this casting,” Tierney said. “I think once they did their chemistry read together, everybody was like, ‘OK, fine, done.'”
## Beyond the Alpha-Jock Trope
Rachel Reid, author of the books, said she was happy with the adaptation and with who was chosen to play the characters she wrote. “If I built the perfect actors in a lab, I could not have built better people to play these characters,” Reid said. It was also important to both Tierney and Reid to have Shane played by someone of Asian descent, as the character is in the books, to keep a sense of diversity in a genre that tends to have mostly white characters. Leah Koch wrote that readers who come to the Ripped Bodice’s locations are looking for more people like Shane-queer and diverse-to be in their stories. She said customers frequently seek out queer sports romances and those that “go beyond the typical alpha-jock trope,” but she’s skeptical that the success of “Heated Rivalry” will lead to more mainstream books or shows with queer stories. “A breakthrough title does sometimes allow other authors more access, but not always,” Koch wrote. “But hey, maybe they’ll prove me wrong, and wouldn’t that be nice?”
## The Bigger Picture
Romance blogger Laura Dusi-Showers said women in particular are responding to the male-on-male romance in a hockey book because of the fantasy aspect of seeing something different than their everyday lives. She added, “I think it’s opening people’s eyes to what could be.” Dusi-Showers explained that it works because hockey is a “manly, aggressive sport” with no out NHL players. Reid said the series came from a love of hockey and her own conflicted feelings about the sport’s culture, especially homophobia. Her debut book in the series, “Game Changer,” is about Scott Hunter, the first fictional hockey player to come out publicly, and his juice-bar barista boyfriend Kip Grady. Part of that story was told in “Heated Rivalry’s” third episode and featured as a climactic moment in the fifth episode. Reid singled out the acting as the reason fans are responding so strongly. “They’re getting really, really emotional or excited about one little quiet part or one line delivery, and that has nothing to do with the sex on the show,” she said, pointing specifically to Williams’ performance as the more awkward and less self-assured Shane.
## Key Takeaways
– “Heated Rivalry” has become HBO Max’s No.1 series, drawing a queer romance audience and boosting sales of the “Game Changers” book series.
– The show’s success is credited to authentic casting, a slow-burn romance, and a focus on hockey’s authenticity.
– While the series signals growing recognition of queer stories, experts note that mainstream adoption remains uncertain.
With its blend of authentic sport, queer love, and strong performances, “Heated Rivalry” has carved out a distinctive place in sports romance, drawing a dedicated fanbase and sparking renewed interest in its source material.
