Heated Rivalry Season 2 is still a ways away (though they keep saying Spring, and that doesn’t actually feel that far), but we already know a little bit about who will be joining Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie on the show’s second season. The first season of the show, which mainly focused on Rachel Reid’s Game Changer series book 2, Heated Rivalry, with a detour for the original Game Changer, was heavy on Shane and Ilya, with a dash of Scott and Kip. Season 2 looks to expand that world.
Jacob Tierney has promised that the season is still an adaptation of The Long Game, the sixth book in Rachel Reid’s series, and one that also follows Shane and Ilya. And if we’re going to be honest, it should be. Shane and Ilya are the best couple in the series and the most interesting, mainly because their obstacles are not that easily solved. But expanding the world isn’t a bad thing!
First, because it means more queer couples on our screens, always something to celebrate. Second, because it means different dynamics will be explored, which is a very good thing for a show that has gained such a big following. Queer relationships are not all the same, and it’s great that the show will reflect that. And third, because expanding the world will only benefit Shane and Ilya, particularly if Tierney is really fleshing out Shane’s arc and showing us scenes we only saw mentioned in the books.
But who else is joining the cast, and what characters will they be playing? We break it down:
Charlie Gillespie as Troy Barrett
Gillespie plays Troy Barrett, who we’re likely to see in his bad boy era and in his reformed asshole era. Hopefully we’ll also get to follow along on some of that journey, because this is one of the things the books do pretty well: give Troy time to be kinda horrible, and then actually redeem himself, with the understanding that being a better person doesn’t mean you can fix all you did wrong.
Think toxic masculinity manifesting through someone who is very deep in the closet and doesn’t want eyes on him. Then, think about breaking out of that and finding love with someone who only knows how to be proud of who he is.
Justice Smith as Harris Drover
Smith will play Harris Drover, who is sunshine personified. And does he meet his grumpy match in Troy. And like every couple in this trope ever, the two are the perfect balance for each other, in every way.
Bubbly and outgoing, Harris is the kind of person everyone wants to be around. Even Ilya calls him adorable. To Shane! So, imagine how adorable he must be. Harris is the kind of person who makes friends easily. A lifelong fan of the Ottawa Centaurs who dedicates himself to the sport he never got to play due to his heart condition, Harris is more than just the love interest in Role Model; he’s an instrumental part of the team Ilya will call home during the events of Heated Rivalry Season 2.
Daniel Diemer as Ryan Price
Diemer will play Ryan Price, whose name we have already heard in Heated Rivalry Season 1. Ilya mentions him during a scene with Shane in Episode 4, pre-tuna melt disaster. Price, who we know from the show, played a year with Ilya and has been traded basically every year, is an enforcer. A “tough guy.” Ilya describes him as quiet and not what he seems.
That’s an understatement because what Ryan Price is hiding is crippling anxiety. He’s also battling the physical toll of playing the position he does, and not just taking a lot of hits but having to deliver them, aka a pain medication dependency.
Shaheen Jafargholi as Fabian Salah
Jafargholi plays Fabian, the love interest in Tough Guy, the third book in the Game Changers series. A musician, Fabian is pretty much the opposite of Ryan, and, in many ways, the opposite of all the hockey players we meet in this series. And you know what they say about opposites attracting?
Fabian very much doesn’t like hockey players. And it’s not because he doesn’t get the sport, no. It’s because he was raised among them. He and Ryan meet at 17 and share what could have been a moment… except no one dared to make a move. Years later, he meets Ryan again, and they’re both in very different places in their lives. But where there was fire…
Also joining the cast are: Emily Hampshire, Edvin Ryding, Robert Naylor, Sabrina Jalees, and Priyanka, with additional cast to be announced. Hampshire will be playing Vanessa, while Priyanka will be playing Tarek, two of Fabian’s friends. Meanwhile, Edvin Ryding is playing a member of the Ottawa Centaurs, the team Ilya moves to, Luca Haas. Naylor plays Wyatt Hayes, who we’ll see as Troy Barrett’s teammate in Toronto before they both end up in Ottawa.
Finally, Sabrina Jalees will play Farah Jalali, Shane and Ilya’s agent.
Expect more names to be announced. We still don’t know who’ll be playing Toronto antagonist Dallas Kent or Book 4 lead Eric Bennett.
