Justice Smith and Charlie Gillespie have joined the Season 2 cast of Heated Rivalry, the hit romantic drama from Canada’s Crave that airs on HBO Max in the U.S., with the season confirmed to premiere spring 2027.
Who will Justice Smith and Charlie Gillespie play in ‘Heated Rivalry’?
Smith will play Harris Drover and Gillespie will play Troy Barrett, the central couple of Role Model, the fifth book in Rachel Reid’s Game Changers series on which the show is based. Per Deadline, Troy is a hockey player on Ilya Rozanov’s team with a history of bullying, while Harris is the team’s cheerful social media manager.
Smith and Gillespie will lead alongside returning stars Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams, who play Ilya Rozanov and Shane Hollander. Season 1 adapted the series’ second book, also titled Heated Rivalry, while incorporating elements of the first book, Game Changer. Per the official logline, Season 1 followed “what began as a secret fling between two fresh-faced rookies” that “evolved into a years-long journey of love, denial and self-discovery.” Series creator Jacob Tierney has said Season 2 will continue Shane and Ilya’s story by adapting the sixth book, The Long Game, according to Variety.
Production on Season 2 began earlier this week in Canada, Deadline reports.
Who is behind ‘Heated Rivalry’?
Tierney serves as writer, director and executive producer, alongside Brendan Brady and Jayme Alter Wilson. Lori Fischburg and Liane Cunje produce, with Reid as consulting producer, and Mike Goldbach co-writes Season 2. The series is produced by Accent Aigu Entertainment in association with Bell Media’s Crave, with participation from the Canada Media Fund, and is distributed internationally by Sphere Abacus.
Tierney and Brady said in a statement: “Rachel Reid has given us two beautifully layered characters in Harris and Troy who you can’t help but root for. From the start of the casting process, we knew we were looking for actors who could create something truly special together and bring that same depth and heart to the screen. Justice and Charlie do exactly that. They immediately connected with the vulnerability and resilience at the core of these characters, bringing an instinctive understanding of who Harris and Troy are.”
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