The fans have called, and Jacob Tierney has answered: when the new season of Heated Rivalry comes out next spring, that won’t be all. Deadline has confirmed that there will be two more seasons of the hit queer hockey series. Not only that, but there’s a full-on movie in the works!
The report, out this week, shared that each of the seasons will have six episodes (the same number season one had, for those a bit rusty on their Heated Rivalry trivia). The seasons are being filmed back-to-back in Toronto, Hamilton and the surrounding GTHA right now, with plans to wrap up by December. But once the seasons finish filming, production will go right into filming a standalone movie in the Heated Rivalry universe.
If what you love about the series is the Shane-and-Ilya of it all, don’t get your hopes up — sources have said that Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie won’t be in the movie. The duo confirmed in an interview with GQ back in December 2025 that they’ve both signed on for three seasons of Heated Rivalry.
Sources have described the film as a Christmas special or holiday-themed episode, and for avid fans of the Game Changers series, that’s a major clue. In the book series by Rachel Reid, she once wrote a Christmas-themed epilogue to Game Changer, the first book in the series following Scott Hunter and Kip Grady.
“Join Scott and Kip as they spend their first Christmas together at Kip’s parents’ house in Brooklyn,” Reid wrote in her summary of the bonus chapter, titled “Merry Christmas, Scott and Kip!”
So it’s likely this Christmas special will be inspired by the epilogue and heavily feature Scott (played by François Arnaud) and Kip (played by Robbie G.K.). Other characters in the series may appear as well.
Casting announcements for season two of Heated Rivalry have given fans some clues as to which couples will be appearing in the next instalments of the series; Charles Gillespie has been cast as Troy Barrett and Justice Smith as Harris Drover, the couple that another book in the Game Changers series, Role Model, is centred around. Daniel Diemer was announced as Ryan Price and Shaheen Jafargholi as Fabian Salah, the couple at the centre of Tough Guy. All four characters appear in the second book following Shane and Ilya’s story, The Long Game, which season two will be based on.
Other casting announcements include Emily Hampshire, Priyanka, Paul Gross, Milla Jovovich and Sabrina Jalees.
Release dates for the new seasons and film haven’t been confirmed, but season two will be released some time in spring 2027, with a likely target of April. According to Deadline’s sources, the Christmas special might be getting a theatrical release in December of next year.