Even though the 2026 TV schedule is chugging right along, one of 2025’s biggest surprise hits, Heated Rivalry, is still a major point of conversation. The hockey romance was renewed for Season 2 while Season 1 was airing, and now the wait is on to see what happens to Shane and Ilya next. The project’s creator, Jacob Tierney, gave us a tease about what’s to come, specifically addressing the challenges the couple could face. As a fan of the books, I hope he’s referring to a specific storyline from The Long Game.
What Jacob Tierney Said About The Challenges Shane And Ilya Will Face In Heated Rivalry Season 2
We know that Season 2 of Heated Rivalry will be a book-to-screen adaptation of Rachel Reid’s book, The Long Game (which is the second novel she wrote about Shane and Ilya). With that in mind, it will pick up after the events of Season 1, and we’ll see the hockey players navigate a new chapter of their relationship. Speaking about that chapter and what it will look like, Jacob Tierney told Deadline:
We’re continuing to take this relationship on a journey that will end happily, but along the way is full of ups and downs and realizing loads of shit about yourself, about your partner and about how you want to live and what it means to live as a queer couple in the world and what you want out of your privacy and your public life. We’re just continuing to give Shane and Ilya the seriousness that this love affair deserves while also continuing to exist within the confines of the genre that we’re in, which I love.
First of all, I love that the show will continue to be joyful and celebratory. However, it will keep addressing the complexities and challenges of Shane and Ilya’s situation earnestly, too. When Season 1 ended, they were a couple; however, the world does not know that yet.
Article continues belowThe pressure that comes with their careers and the potentially negative reactions people could have to them being a couple will still be challenges for them. Addressing the hurdles these guys will have to handle in Season 2, the show’s creator said:
I want them to be happy, but I also want to show that that’s not easy. Because part of what Rachel does so brilliantly in her writing is to give queerness joy, but also not pretend the world isn’t the world. It’s not like she created this world where it’s like, there’s no homophobia and hockey’s amazing, and anyone can come out. No. She shows it’s difficult, takes courage, guts, and sacrifice, and takes stepping up and saying things with your full chest. And that to me is a triumph. That’s what we’re trying to do here.
As someone who has read all of Rachel Reid’s Game Changer books – including Heated Rivalry and The Long Game – this is something I adore about these stories too. So, with that in mind, there’s a storyline Reid wrote into her second novel that I hope Tierney includes in Season 2 in a big way.
I Hope One Big Challenge Ilya Overcomes In The Long Game Is A Major Storyline
Major spoilers for the book, The Long Game, are ahead!
One of my favorite storylines in The Long Game happens when Ilya decides to go to therapy. There are multiple things he’s struggling with, including keeping his relationship with Shane a secret. And as the book goes on, he really learns how to understand and deal with the challenges he’s facing.
Through his time in therapy, he’s able to consider and work through massive life changes he’s faced, like his father's passing and his moving to Canada to play for an entirely new team. He’s also able to talk about Shane, too. Along with that, he's able to unpack past trauma, like the death of his mother. And it's through these sessions that Ilya realizes he has depression.
This storyline showcases Ilya’s mental health journey in such a lovely and serious way. It helps us understand him as well as his outlook on his relationship with Shane in a complex way. I hope the show both incorporates it and handles it with great care.
I’m sure that will happen too, seeing as Jacob Tierney has said he’d stay faithful to the source material. I’m also sure that Connor Storrie can act out this part of his character’s story with so much nuance and grace.
Overall, this part of the book adds even more depth to Shane and Ilya’s relationship, and it helps us and Shane understand the Russian hockey player on a deeper level. So, I really hope that when I watch Season 2 of Heated Rivalry with my HBO Max subscription, this part of The Long Game is included.
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