I Have A Big Question About Heated Rivalry Season 2 After Reading The Books, And The Author Adressed It

From left to right: Shane holding a beer and looking at Ilya who is looking back at him. They're both sitting at a bar.

(Image credit: Sabrina Lantos/HBO Max)

While I was watching Heated Rivalry with my HBO Max subscription, I got so into Shane and Ilya’s story that I immediately started reading the novels this book-to-screen adaptation is based on. Quickly, I flew through the titular book as well as its sequel, The Long Game, and now I’m reading Rachel Reid’s other stories in the Game Changers series. However, as I’ve been learning about the other couples these books focus on, I’ve started to wonder how they’ll play into Shane and Ilya’s tale on screen. Thankfully, the author has addressed this.

Will Role Model And Other Game Changer Books Be Incorporated Into Season 2?

Alright, to understand my question, you need to understand how this series is laid out. Like Bridgerton, each book follows a different couple. However, each story is interconnected, so there’s crossover.

It begins with Game Changer, which follows Scott and Kip, and then the second book is Heated Rivalry, which is Shane and Ilya’s first book. The first season of the show that aired on the 2025 TV schedule covered these two novels, with the primary focus being on Shane and Ilya, and Episode 3 centering on Scott and Kip.

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Scott carrying Kip in Heated Rivalry — (Image credit: Bell Media)

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While Scott and Kip didn’t get a full season to themselves, the story of their book was told, and it did play a pivotal role in Shane and Ilya’s romance.

Now, going into Season 2 of Heated Rivalry, it’s been confirmed that it will follow the events of The Long Game, which is the second book in Reid’s series that follows Shane and Ilya. However, between this couple’s first and second story, the author wrote Tough Guy, Common Goal and Role Model, all of which focus on new couples and take place either before or during the events of the Heated Rivalry sequel.

It’s important to note Role Model specifically, because its timeline overlaps with The Long Game, and its primary couple, hockey player Tory and social media manager Harris, work for the same team Ilya plays for. So, all three characters play important roles in both books, and ultimately, they create one big story. So, that begs the question: How involved will they be in Season 2? And, will we get to see the couples from the other books, too?

Well, while Rachel Reid doesn’t have a specific answer, she did share her take on the matter.

Rachel Reid Shared Her Thoughts On Role Model Being Part Of Heated Rivalry Season 2

Following the cultural and critical phenomenon that was Heated Rivalry Season 1, chatter about what could happen in Season 2 is picking up. During an interview with Variety, author Rachel Reid was asked about it too, as the journalist wondered if she’d spoken to the show’s creator, Jacob Tierney, about his plans. In response, she said:

I think we’re on the same page about it. Obviously, the focus has to stay on Ilya and Shane. We’re not going to do Season 2 and it’s a totally different couple. It wouldn’t be very popular. Not that we weren’t expecting it, but I think we’re all surprised at how popular Scott and Kip were. So now it’s, ‘OK, how do you get more Scott and Kip?’

While Scott and Kip aren’t the sole focus of the other books, they do appear. The same is true for the couples from Tough Guy and Common Goal. Then, when you get to Role Model, there’s a whole bunch of crossover because Troy, Ilya and Harris all work at the same place. Therefore, while Tory and Harris' story is happening, Ilya and Shane are dealing with how to handle their relationship, and the two stories impact each other.

To that point, Reid noted that it’d be hard to tell the story of The Long Game without featuring Role Model in Season 2. She said:

I think it’s going to be mostly ‘The Long Game.’ Jacob’s already said that in interviews, but there’s another book ‘Role Model’ that kind of overlaps it. So I’m hoping that we’ll get both stories told at the same time. I don’t think there’s another way you could do it. I’m hoping we get more episodes.

Well, if we get more episodes, that’d certainly make merging these books into one story easier. However, as of right now, we simply don’t know if that’s going to happen.

We do know how good Season 1 is, and how faithful an adaptation it is. So, I have faith in the Heated Rivalry team when it comes to figuring out how exactly they should move forward as they adapt more of Rachel Reid’s beloved books.

Riley Utley is the Weekend Editor at CinemaBlend. She has written for national publications as well as daily and alt-weekly newspapers in Spokane, Washington, Syracuse, New York and Charleston, South Carolina. She graduated with her master’s degree in arts journalism and communications from the Newhouse School at Syracuse University. Since joining the CB team she has covered numerous TV shows and movies -- including her personal favorite shows Ted Lasso and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. She also has followed and consistently written about everything from Taylor Swift to Fire Country, and she's enjoyed every second of it.

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