Pokemon star Justice Smith rumoured for major Heated Rivalry season 2 role
Justice Smith (Getty Images)
Pokemon: Detective Pikachu and Jurassic World Dominion star Justice Smith is rumoured to have been cast in Heated Rivalry season two.
Gossip blog deuxmoi shared an anonymous tip this week, which is, of course, unverified, which read: “Heated Rivalry S2 casting news: Justice Smith will be playing Harris. Production started yesterday.”
Smith, who identifies as queer and is dating actor Nicholas L Ashe, has also appeared in I Saw The TV Glow, The Voyeurs, and TV show Generation.
The second season of the hit gay hockey drama is set to continue following the love story of rival players Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) and Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie).
It will be based on book six in Rachel Reid’s Game Changers novel series, titled The Long Game, which is itself a sequel story to book two, Heated Rivalry.
In The Long Game, Ilya is playing at a new team, the Ottawa Centaurs, which is also where book five, Role Model, takes place.
Role Model focuses on the romance between closeted hockey player Troy Barrett and the team’s social media manager, Harris Drover.
Fans have been left divided by the unconfirmed casting news, due to Reid writing Harris as a cute, stock-but-comfortable guy rather than a ripped sportsman.
However others pointed out actor François Arnaud doesn’t look how his character Scott Hunter is described in the books either. In Reid’s novels, Hunter is blond haired and blue eyed. But be real, were you thinking about that during THAT scene at the end of episode five? We couldn’t even see what colour his hair was through the tears in our eyes…
If the casting news is true, then it’s already been confirmed who he won’t be starring alongside. Adults star Jack Innanen was reportedly offered a role, rumoured to be Troy Barratt, but couldn’t take it on due to scheduling conflicts.
Another rumoured new casting is model and actor Abdalla Amour, who appeared in a number of photos with the cast, and fans reckon he’d be perfect as Tough Guy lead Fabian Salah.
Justice Smith to play RuPaul?
If Heated Rivalry isn’t happening for Justice Smith, then he doesn’t need to worry.
That’s because Queen of Drag RuPaul wants the actor to play him in a biopic of his life.
Speaking to hosts Dermot O’Leary and Alison Hammond on This Morning on 30 July, RuPaul (who is in the UK for a Brighton Pride performance) said: “We’ve talked about it, and there’s a kid, Justice Smith, who’s in the Pokemon films, he’s gorgeous, he would be perfect for it. We’ve talked about doing it.
“We’re doing a documentary right now about my life and I’m doing the next book of mine, part two, I’m doing that right now, so you never know.”
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