The HBO Max series getting a ton of discussion on social media right now, the Canadian gay hockey player romance drama “Heated Rivalry,” has been officially renewed for a second season after just a few episodes.
The show, which hails from “Letterkenny” producer/writer Jacob Tierney and is based on Rachel Reid’s “Game Changers” book series, premiered on Thanksgiving weekend in Canada via Crave and was picked up at the last minute by HBO Max for the US and Australian markets.
The result has been a surprise success for an acquisition; the series has raised eyebrows over its steamy sex scenes between two rival professional hockey players, Canadian Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) and Russian Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie), whose years-long on-ice animosity conceals their clandestine and complicated love affair.
But reviews (95% on RT, 71/100 on MC) have also painted it as a strong, character-based drama with a measured approach, focusing on telling its story rather than on larger political issues and being quite faithful to the source material.
The approach is working, the title broke viewership records on Crave as the Canadian network’s most successful original series debut – viewership jumping nearly 400% in its first week, with female viewers in particular flocking to the show.
HBO Max has reportedly already committed to Season 2 streaming rights in the U.S. and multiple international territories.
Source: TV Fanatic
