Heated Rivalry’s Hudson Williams applauded for ‘lovingly’ portraying autism on screen
Hudson Williams as Shane Hollander in Heated Rivalry. (Bell Media)
Hudson Williams as Shane Hollander in Heated Rivalry. (Bell Media)
Heated Rivalry‘s Hudson Williams has been applauded for “lovingly” portraying a character with autism on screen.
Williams stars as Shane Hollander in the LGBTQ+ sports drama centred on two rival players, Hollander and Ilya Rozanov’s (Connor Storrie) love affair.
In a short space of time the series, based on Rachel Reid’s Game Changers novels, has built a loyal fanbase who are as passionate about their love of the actors as well as the characters.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter about his character, Williams shared that he understood certain aspects of his character due to a personal connection.
“After reading Jacob [Tierney, the showrunner]’s scripts, even before the book, I immediately saw how he would operate. My dad is on the spectrum, he knows it,” said Williams regarding Hollander’s autism, which has been separately confirmed by Reid.
He explained his dad was “first in class in everything” and a “very technical genius in a lot of ways”. But Williams said that socially his dad “would say that he doesn’t want to deal with emotions”.
Williams continued: “He has told me, I’m not even paraphrasing, ‘I relate more with Vulcan than human’,” referencing Star Trek.
Hudson also said: “I love my dad to death, and I’ve always felt very connected to him. He has a sensitivity to him that is very boyish. I think when I read the script, I took a huge page out of living my life with him.”
He also stated: “Rachel [Reid] has said [Shane] is autistic, so I think I knew how it should look. I empathised with him a lot, immediately.”
Fans have celebrated the confirmation of Hollander’s autism in both the books and the TV series.
“Seeing someone portray autism so lovingly, from a place of seeing it in someone they love, is so powerful,” open person wrote on Instagram.
“I am just beyond grateful to Rachel for creating this character, to Jacob for moulding him for this show, and to Hudson for bringing him to life. It really is a wonderful thing that makes a true difference,” they added.
Meanwhile, on Reddit, someone said they were “glad to see this” in response to confirmation of Hollander’s autism. Someone else celebrated Williams and how he “clearly has a lot of deep deep thoughts on how he’s portraying him”.
Another person contributed: “Hudson’s acting as Shane is incredible. So spot on.” Another user added: “There’s so much nuance and thought that he’s put into Shane.”
The same person also said: “It really stands out if you watch Hudson as a person or his other acting.”
On X/Twitter someone put: “To see a queer, autistic character onscreen (like me)… it means the world.” Someone else effused: “I love seeing myself in characters.”
And another X/Twitter user put: “Shoutout to Heated Rivalry for letting Shane Hollander be hot as f*** and also autistic. So thank you Heated Rivalry for letting us contain multitudes,” they added.
The creators have confirmed Season 2 of Heated Rivalry.
Currently the show isn’t available in the UK. However, Deadline has reported that deal is “imminent”.
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