Filming for the second season of everyone’s favourite hockey romance, Heated Rivalry, has started up in Toronto, and after months of secrecy, we’re finally getting some details about who has been cast to play all the new characters in season two.
A new casting announcement shared on Thursday introduced fans to five cast members, including a few for characters you might not have heard of if you’re not an avid reader of the Game Changers series the show is based on.
Here’s everything we know so far about the Heated Rivalry season two cast.
Edvin Ryding is Luca Haas
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After some ardent fan casting and much social media speculation, we now can confirm that Edvin Ryding, of Young Royals fame, will be playing Luca Haas, a Swiss hockey player on the Ottawa Centaurs. He’s a relatively minor character in the book the second season will be based on, The Long Game, but he’s a particular fan of Ilya Rozanov and will likely have more than a few seasons with Connor Storrie.
Robert Naylor is Wyatt Hayes
Another fan favourite from The Long Game, fans have been eagerly awaiting the announcement of who will be playing Wyatt Hayes. We now know Robert Naylor will be stepping into the skates of the Ottawa Centaurs starting goaltender. Naylor is an actor from Quebec, and you might recognize him for his recent role in Chandler Levack’s Mile End Kicks — or you might recognize his voice! He voiced Dora in the Arthur animated series.
Sabrina Jaleel is Farah Jalali
Toronto’s own Sabrina Jaleel will be stepping into a small but crucial role: Farah Jalali. Originally Shane Hollander’s agent, she also ends up representing Ilya in The Long Game when he decides he wants a Canadian agent. Extremely competent and extremely supportive, Farah is instrumental in a few key scenes that we suspect will make an appearance in the new season…
Emily Hampshire is Vanessa
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Schitt’s Creek star Emily Hampshire is securing a role in yet another iconic Canadian TV series: she’s been cast as Vanessa in Heated Rivalry. This is a character from the wider Game Changers universe; she’s a close friend to Fabian Salah and Ryan Price, the protagonists of another book in the series, Tough Guy.
Priyanka is Tarek
Iconic Ontario drag queen Priyanka will be playing Tarek, another close friend to Fabian and Ryan and roommate to Vanessa. Casting announcements haven’t been made for either character yet, but knowing Vanessa and Tarek have been cast in the series might hint at a larger role for Fabian and Ryan in the series. Perhaps another Scott and Kip-style episode is in the works!
Charles Gillespie is Troy Barrett
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Key to The Long Game are another couple from the Game Changers universe: Troy Barrett and Harris Drover. The pair’s love story is explored in another book called Role Model, but it unfolds in a similar timeline to the events of The Long Game, and creator Jacob Tierney has confirmed that the couple will play a part in season two’s story. Casting for both characters was announced recently, with Canadian actor Charles Gillespie stepping into the role of Troy, the former Toronto Guardians player who gets traded to the Ottawa Centaurs and eventually strikes up a friendship with Ilya.
Justice Smith is Harris Drover
Playing Harris Drover, lover interest to Troy, is Justice Smith. You might recognize him from his work in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, All the Bright Places and I Saw the TV Glow. Harris joins the ranks of non-hockey playing love interests in the book series (author Rachel Reid left that to Shane and Ilya!). He’s runs social media for the Ottawa Centaurs and is one of very few openly gay characters involved the league. Also key to his story: Chiron, his adorable puppy turned team dog. Casting for Chiron has yet to be announced — fingers crossed he hasn’t been written out of the show!
Which Heated Rivalry casting announcements haven’t been made yet?
There are still a few key characters we don’t know about yet: Ryan Price and Fabian Salah will likely be announced soon enough. There’s also Dallas Kent, a homophobic and bigoted player on the Toronto Guardians who plays a key role in Troy’s character evolution. Ilya also starts working with a Russian-speaking therapist, Dr. Galina Molchalina, in The Long Game, so she will likely appear in a few scenes in the new season.
Of course, with all these casting announcements, rest assured that Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams will be still be getting plenty of screen time as Ilya and Shane. Tierney has previously referred to the two of them as the “heartbeat” of the series, saying to Variety, “It’s always going to be about Ilya and Shane.”
Other returning characters include Yuna Hollander (Christina Chang), David Hollander (Dylan Walsh), Svetlana Vetrova (Ksenia Daniela Kharlamova) and Rose Landry (Sophie Nélisse).