‘Heated Rivalry’ stars talk sexy hockey romance’s fan appeal

November 26, 2025

L-R Hudson Williams as Shane Hollander and Connor Storrie as Ilya Rozanov in ‘Heated Rivalry’ (Sabrina Lantos)

From BookTok to your TV screen: The much-buzzed-about steamy hockey romance series Heated Rivalry debuts its first two episodes on HBO Max Friday.

The six-episode series, created by Jacob Tierney and based on the popular novels by Rachel Reid, follows Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov, two rival hockey players who start a secret relationship in their rookie season that ends up spanning years. Hudson Williams plays wholesome Canadian superstar Shane, opposite Connor Storrie as Russian bad boy Ilya.

Tierney, Williams and Storrie say seeing the fan excitement grow online before the show has even aired feels “surreal” and “crazy.”

“It just makes me so excited for them to see the show,” Storrie tells ABC Audio. “Because if this is the reaction without, I can’t imagine some of the reactions to what we end up actually doing.”

The faithful adaptation has enough heat to melt the ice, thanks to the chemistry between Williams and Storrie, but the characters’ evolving love story against all odds is what has resonated deeply with fans.

“[The emotional scenes] felt like an extension of the physical ones, especially after establishing our relationship as Connor and Hudson,” Williams says. “It helped just allow us to go anywhere as Shane and Ilya with just sort of innate trust in each other.”

Tierney says the characters are “like high school sweethearts” in a way, who just “can’t shake each other.” “I think there’s something so romantic and swoony about that, that I think that’s partly why they stand out from the pack,” he says.