Heated Rivalry creator confirms emotional season two scene: ‘Can’t do it off-screen’

Heated Rivalry creator Jacob Tierney is well and truly locked in for season two. In a recent interview, the showrunner confirmed that certain, pivotal scenes will change from how they played out in Rachel Reid’s original novel series.

With filming set to commence this summer and the fandom already fawning over what’s to come, Jacob Tierney must be waist-deep in working out the details of Heated Rivalry season two.

The second series of the hugely popular, steamy queer show is set to be based on The Long Game, the sixth season in Reid’s Game Changers novel series (season one was based on the second book, aptly titled Heated Rivalry).

The Long Game lurches forward ten years, with Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) and Ilya Rosanov (Connor Storrie) in a relationship but still publicly closeted about their romance. 

However – spoiler alert! – later in the book, the couple decide to go public with their relationship.

While the bulk of season two is set to focus on the events of The Long Game, there’s one moment from Reid’s original Heated Rivalry book that Tierney has now confirmed will appear in season two.

The book’s epilogue features a smaller time jump of around a year-and-a-half, during which time Shane has decided to come out to his teammates. The epilogue deals with the monumental moment through a retrospective look back, rather than in-the-moment dialogue, leaving some fans concerned about how Tierney would opt to adapt the revelation.

During a recent conversation on the Loon Call podcast, the showrunner revealed that he will be bringing the scene to life during season two.

“In – spoiler – season two, I’m gonna have to do Shane coming out to his team. I can’t do that off screen. That’s not how TV works,” he confirmed.

“I can’t have somebody tell you about a thing that is that important that happened, you have to see it. You have to experience it yourself,” he added.

Tierney explained that while novels benefit from being able to showcase internal monologues through the written word, TV operates differently.

“I’m glad; it’s fun. It’s made me nervous. It’s part of the challenge of doing it,” he said, adding that he instantly knew after reading the epilogue that he would need to bring the moment to TV.

“I would say instantly, I knew as soon as I was going through the book and breaking it apart, I was like, ‘Gotta write that.’ I’d have these circle beats where I’m like, ‘I gotta do that’,” he said.

Online, Heated Rivalry fans have reacted with joy at learning that Shane’s big coming out moment will get some proper screen time.

“I love the fact that it wasn’t even a question for Jacob, Shane coming out to his team is an essential part of the story,” one fan wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

“It’s the first time Shane will get to do that in his own terms. So ofc it needs to be shown… all of it is part of his journey, each bits is important to his development.”

According to Storrie and HBO boss Casey Bloys, Heated Rivalry season two will begin filming at some point during the summer. 

Tienrey also recently confirmed that while fans won’t get to see season two of the smash hit series in 2026, it is currently set for release around spring time in 2027.

Heated Rivalry season one is streaming now on Crave, HBO and NOW.

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