Heated Rivalry’s Hudson Williams thought Connor Storie was going to ‘pin him down’ in heated audition

It turns out that the Heated Rivalry chemistry read between Hudson Williams and Connor Storie was very heated indeed, according to the show’s creator Jacob Tierney.

The new queer, Canadian sports romance series has had the queer people of the internet hot under the collar all weekend, following the first two episodes being released on Friday (28 November).

Based on the Rachel Reid’s novel Game Changers, Heated Rivalry follows Williams and Storie as Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov, ice hockey players on rival teams, who take their passion for the game off the rink and into the bedroom.

Thanks largely to the copious amounts of coitus – Tierney recently estimated that there’s three sex scenes per episode – viewers have become besotted by the chemistry between Williams and Connor.

Speaking to Out magazine recently, the duo confirmed that the intense connection between them came about “instantly” – so much so that Williams thought Stories was going to “pin [him] down and f*** [him]” during the audition process.

“Hudson was the third actor that I read with. The first two I was like, ‘OK, this is cool,’ and then Hudson came on. Jacob actually texted me directly and was like, ‘What do you think?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, Hudson, for sure.’ Instantly,” Storied told the publication.

Williams confirmed that he felt the same about Storrie, explaining that the actor had an “inexplicable X factor that just felt realer than what I thought it could possibly be”.

According to Tierney though, it was more of an X-rated factor between them.

“Hudson told me, ‘The other guy was good, but Connor felt like he was going to pin me down and f*** me…’ That is literally what he said. And I was like, ‘Well, I think I cast this right,” the director said.

“They were essentially cast at the same time. It was very clear to us that we needed to find Shane and Ilya together,” he added. “This show lives and dies with them, so we needed to make sure that this worked together.”

The pair’s steamy connection clearly translates on screen, as Heated Rivalry has already become one of the buzziest TV releases of 2025, despite just two of six episodes being released. 

“I’ve seen enough, go ahead and greenlight six seasons and movie,” one fan quipped in a viral post on X, formerly Twitter, following the release of the first two episodes.

Another declared a shower scene – in which both Ottawa-born Montreal Metros pro Shane and Moscow-born Russian American Boston Raiders captain Ilya appear naked – as the “scene of the year”.

Ive seen enough, go ahead and greenlight six seasons and movie #heatedrivalry pic.twitter.com/yEOe20JZfO

— mani 🍉🍉🍉 is watching heated rivalry (@jasimidaisies) November 28, 2025

this is a lot freakier than i thought it would be #heatedrivalry pic.twitter.com/p2jA1UiFRa

— 🐈‍⬛ (@dinahbelova) November 28, 2025

The show has been praised for its explicit and no-holds-barred approach to gay sex scenes.

Williams recently confirmed that his chemistry with Storrie still extends beyond the screen, revealing that the pair got matching tattoos after wrapping filming on the series.

Both actors now have a tattoo which reads “sex sells” on different locations on their leg.

Speaking about the tattoos recently, Williams said that getting them done was “the cherry on top of [their] friendship and what needed to be done”.

The first two episodes of Heated Rivalry are streaming now on HBO Max in the US and Australia and on Crave in Canada. New episode will drop every Friday.

There is currently no official UK release date for the show.

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