Everything you need to know about Jacob Tierney, Heated Rivalry’s queer showrunner
Jacob Tierney, the showrunner behind Heated Rivalry. (Getty)
Jacob Tierney, the showrunner behind Heated Rivalry. (Getty)
In a very short space of time the Canadian LGBTQ+ sports drama, Heated Rivalry, has become the internet’s lates obsession, and we have Jacob Tierney to thank for that.
The series, based on Rachel Reid’s novel of the same name in the Game Changers series, follows the multi-year story of Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie) and Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams), two rival ice hockey players who engage in a passionate romance.
Available to audiences in the US, Canada and Australia currently, the series has made waves online thanks to the actors’ chemistry on and off screen as well as the sex scenes.
Jacob Tierney created the show after reading the novel the series is based on during the pandemic.
Here’s what we know about him.
Who is Heated Rivalry‘s Jacob Tierney?
Tierney is a Canadian actor and director. He began acting as a child but has made more of a name of himself writing and directing feature films and TV series.
What else has he worked on?
Among the projects Tierney has worked on in his career are the feature film The Twist as well as the sit-coms, Mr. D and Letterkenny, the latter in which he also starred.
He’s also directed a theatrical production of Tom Stoppard’s Travesties.
What has he said about creating Heated Rivalry?
Tierney has revealed he didn’t think about adapting the book Heated Rivalry at first “because of the level of smut to it”, as he told The Hollywood Reporter. But he went on to say he felt he had to make it because “it’s gay and hockey”, adding: “That’s me.”
He also told the publication that queer people “get to have it all in this one” in regard to the faithfulness to the source material as well as the characters having a happy ending (no pun intended).
Speaking to Xtra, Tierney said he’d approached Reid about adapting her books into a TV series. He reckoned that what sealed the deal was he told the author: “I wanna take these books seriously,” and: “I don’t want to do this as a Hallmark romance.
“I want to take this seriously and I want to give it six hours, which is a different treatment than I think this genre generally gets.”
What’s he said about Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie?
Tierney has said “chemistry was just insane” between Williams and Storrie during the audition process.
“We loved both of them separately and then seeing them together, it was just like perfection. We couldn’t ask for more,” he told Xtra.
In the same interview, the director intervened when the two actors were asked about their own personal lives in relation to the debate about queer actors playing queer roles.
Tierney said: “I’ll answer this for them. I don’t think there’s any reason to get into that stuff. I’ll tell you something about the casting of both of these roles.
“You can’t ask questions like that when you’re casting, right? It’s actually against the law. So what you have to gauge is somebody’s enthusiasm and willingness to do the work.
“And that’s what’s so impressive about both of these guys is they came into this being like, ‘Yeah, we’re here to do this, and we are here to make this story feel authentic and to be as real as possible.’
“And they f****** hit it out of the park.”
Has Jacob Tierney said anything about Heated Rivalry season two?
Yes, he has. In a recent chat with Evan Ross Katz, Tierney said: “There’s a lot of enthusiasm to do another season and I think it looks good, but I can’t announce anything.”
He also said: “It’s definitely not going unnoticed that the show is doing well and that people seem to be responding to it. And there’s a sequel book, right?”
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