Grab your tissues! Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams’ latest interview is guaranteed to make you emotional.
Over the last few weeks, the two handsome talents have been hard at work promoting their universally acclaimed TV series, Heated Rivalry.
Based on Rachel Reid’s hit novel, the gay hockey romance follows Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov, two elite professional hockey players who have a fierce rivalry on the ice but harbour a secret romantic relationship behind closed doors.
While Williams and Storrie’s previous interviews have remained relatively light-hearted, the pair got emotional during their recent sit-down with Forbes’ senior contributor Jeff Conway.
When asked if they had a special or “comforting message” they would give to their characters, Ilya and Shane, Storrie said, “Oh, that’s going to make me cry. Mine is kind of cliché, but it’s not your fault. It’s not your fault, it’s not in your control.
“He has some pretty crazy family dynamics that will come up throughout the rest of the story, and it’s just really heavy.”
Williams echoed similar sentiments, telling Conway: “I would tell Shane that his ideas of perfection and masculinity are wrong, they’re immature, they’re juvenile, and that’s not his fault, but he’s going to feel a lot less pressure and discomfort in himself if he changes those.”
You can watch the full heartwarming moment below.
Since its two-episode premiere on 28 November, Heated Rivalry has become a viral sensation and critical success, with praise aimed at its faithfulness to the source material, Williams and Storrie’s chemistry (on and off-screen), and its bold sex scenes.
While the series has become a certified hit, fans have anxiously waited for news of a renewal.
Fortunately, on 12 December, Crave and HBO Max – with the help of Storrie and Hudson – announced that the series would, in fact, be returning for a second season.
“Season two. Heated Rivalry. Confirmed,” Storrie exclaimed in an announcement video, with Williams teasing a “hotter, wetter, and longer” season.
The official Heated Rivalry Instagram account also shared a new behind-the-scenes video featuring showrunner Jacob Teirney and executive producer Brendan Brady breaking the news of season two to the handsome actors.
“Hey, we got some fun news for you,” Brady says at the start of their Zoom meeting before Tierney exclaims, “We got a season two babies!”
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After an adorable celebratory reaction from Storrie and Williams, the former said, “I had a feeling it was going to be that,” while the latter exclaimed, “Oh my god, yeah!”
While we’re still a ways away from Heated Rivalry season two, Tierney teased what fans can expect from season two during a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly.
“We’re following Shane and Ilya. That’s not gonna be a shock. There’s certainly a possibility we’ll have additional resources, and we can do some things that we would want to do,” he told the news outlet.
New episodes air every Friday on Crave in Canada and on HBO in the US, with the finale scheduled for 26 December.
As of writing, a UK release has sadly not been announced.
Check out our Heated Rivalry tag for all the reactions from fans – and the cast.
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