Watch: Heated Rivalry’s Hudson Williams Makes Red Carpet Debut With Girlfriend at Vanity Fair Oscars Party
Heated Rivalry fans aren’t getting iced out.
Creator Jacob Tierney let fans in onsome behind-the-scenes details of season two, which is expected to film this summer and debut in April 2027.
While speaking with Heated Rivalry author Rachel Reid at New York City for BookCon 2026, Tierney explained how he’s turning the 2022 sequel The Long Game into season two—but with some “parts” of her 2021 novel Role Model added in.
That means viewers will meet new characters Troy Barrett, who joins the Ottawa Centaurs alongside Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie) and develops a connection with Harris Drover, the hockey team’s social media manager, as the pair’s story takes center stage in Role Model.
“There is an easy, facile way of looking at Role Model,” Tierney said at the event, according to Entertainment Weekly. “It’s very ‘grumpy sunshine.’ It’s very ‘apple orchard.’ It can drift into things that you want, but Troy is a really damaged guy. And Troy is quite damaged on the show. I would say we’re digging into that even harder.”
But it’s been a challenge to adapt both the books, which are set 10 years after the events of Heated Rivalry, into season two and possibly season three.
“Long Game is… so long and it’s so gamey, like eating venison,” Tierney quipped. “It really is different, and the challenge, from an adaptation standpoint, is you’re in much more serious territory. There’s still lots of flirting, and there’s lots of sex, but it’s this kind of danger. This kind of ‘hotel room, adolescent sex’ stuff is largely gone.”
Harold Feng/Getty Images
Indeed, Ilya has transferred to the Ottawa Centaurs and continues his romance with Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) in private, even launching their charity as they planned to do in the first installment.
“What do you do after the rush of danger is gone and yet now you have to live in a relationship where you still aren’t communicating properly, much as you would like to?” the showrunner explained. “You can say you love each other, but as adults know, there’s so much more than that to make a relationship successful. And that is what they’re learning.”
As for the author, Reid “can’t wait to see” a certain Christmas scene between Shane and Ilya brought to life on the big screen.
Sabrina Lantos/Warner Bros. Discovery
While waiting for Tierney to score with season two of Heated Rivalry, take a look at more books that will suck you in this spring.
Mariner Books
G.P. Putnam’s Sons
For most readers, Judy Blume has been there every step of the journey—from children’s classics like Are You There God, It’s Me Margaret and Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing to her more mature reads like Wifey and Summer Sisters. But now, the iconic writer’s life itself is making way to TBR lists thanks to Mark Oppenheimer—and adding to the intrigue? An apparent falling out between the biographer and his subject over the course of the writing.
Viking
The Irish novelist has been a fan-favorite among thriller enthusiasts since In the Woods, and with good reason: they’re addictive and unpredictable. And years after ditching her Dublin-area settlings for the West of Ireland and the tales of Cal Hooper, Tana French is back with what purports to be her final outing for the retired American cop as he investigates the death of a young woman in his small town—and gets tangled in the long-simmering tensions that come to a boil as a result of this local tragedy.
To her millions of followers, influencer Natalie Heller Mills projects a life of traditional family perfection: a doting husband, a brood of perfect homeschooled children and a farm that doubles as a chic Instagram backdrop. However, her pioneer life masquerade is no match for the real thing as she awakens in the early 19th century with no idea how she got there—or how to get back to her reality. The dual timeline novel, tracking her rise to social media notoriety and navigating life in 1805, is a wild, twisty ride through the world of tradwife influencing.
Doubleday
When Patrick Radden Keefe published his 2024 New Yorker article about the death of British teen Zac Brettler—whose secret life posing as the son of a Russian oligarch ultimately ended in tragedy—it could have been easy to question what more there is to say. However, this is the author of Say Nothing and Empire of Pain we’re talking about. So, unsurprisingly, Keefe more than delivers with gripping, unflinching examination at the seedy world of money and power Zac became enmeshed in—and his family’s quest for the truth in the years following his 2019 death.
Berkley
Charlie Jones arrives at her new job managing in farm shop in a remote island only to meet Charlie Jones, who has turned up for his new job at the farm shop. Beyond their shared name, they’re each desperate for a fresh start far away from home. However, unable to work out which of the Charlie Joneses is actually meant to be running the shop, the owners have a proposition: they both take on the job for a few months and at the end, whoever is the best fit gets the job. But as they set out to prove they’re the one meant to last, they may find they have more in common than a name.
Ballantine Books
Prepare to dive into your favorite books—quite literally. Rainy March is, as the title suggests, a book witch with the ability to journey into the worlds of beloved books to fix malicious changes. There’s just one rule: Book Witches can visit but never linger too long in a book. But after her grandfather—and a precious book—go missing, must risk it all by travelling through countless classic novels with the fictional detective Duke of Chicago to help find him. And in the process, she not only has to confront the unearthed family secrets but confront her feelings for the Duke.
Penguin Random House
Prepare to set sail on a thoughtful examination of fandom in Emma Straub’s latest, which follows 50-year-old divorcée Annie on a cruise centered around the boy band of her youth, Boy Talk. Without ever looking down on upon Stan culture, the book is an honest portrayal of aging, celebrity and the culture that shaped our youth.Although, what truly makes Straub’s book work so well—aside from its 360-degree examination of the cruise through the lens of Annie, Boy bander Keith and cruise employee Sarah—is that it doesn’t matter what boy band stole hearts as the reader came of age, as she captures that magical feeling in a timeless way.
William Morrow
Imagine your ex has turned your life together into fodder for his semi-autobiographical graphic novel—which has become a massive sensation and parlayed him into internet fame. At least, that’s what Cherry is going through as she picks up the pieces of the dream life they were supposed to share. As she takes steps forward, she runs into someone from her past, Russ, who may just be the key to moving on from the heartbreak.
Atria Books
Release: April 21
Sure fall is considered spooky season but there’s always room for a spring scare. And in The Caretaker, the We Used to Live Here author introduces readers to Macy, who desperate for a job agrees to a three-day stint as the caretaker of a property in the Pacific Northwest, despite the ominous signs that something is afoot. Indeed, it soon becomes clear that something is very, very wrong.
Flatiron Books
Take a step back just a few years into 2007 Brooklyn, where Alicia Canales is back home in Fort Greene and looking ahead into the next chapter of her life. During this time, she becomes ensnared in the world of her mysterious artist neighbor, who throws legendary parties. Set amid a changing neighborhood landscape at a precarious time to be coming of age—after all, the financial crisis looms just ahead—Xochitl Gonzalez delivers yet another can’t-miss story.
Grove Press
After barely scraping by in Edinburgh, John-Calum returns home to his insular, deeply religious community in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland, of which his father John is a revered member and his Glasgow-born grandmother Ella is forever an outsider. Beyond trying to avoid cracking under the scrutiny that comes with being home—especially as a still-closeted queer person—Cal’s relationship with John is a complicated web of love, resentment and frustration, which occasionally turns violent.However, at the root of this fractus dynamic is the similarities neither is willing to acknowledge. It’s a really moving, unflinching story about fathers and sons, legacy and homophobia in ‘90s Scotland—continuing to cement Douglas Stuart as a must-read.
Berkley
The day before her wedding, Frankie wakes up to a note from her fiancé calling off the wedding. With the honeymoon already paid for, she decides to decamp the lush rainforests of Tofino, a quiet inlet on the coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia. She doesn’t go alone, however, as her childhood best friend George reluctantly tags along. And after years of distance growing between them, the week serves as an opportunity to rebuild their fading friendship—or let it blossom into something more.
Cardinal
American actress Monica Logue arrives in Derry to immerse herself in the community before filming on her new show about The Troubles commences—only to go missing. Naturally, the TV star’s disappearance is talk of the town, and everyone has an opinion or theory about where she is. And that’s where the heart of the story lies, as each chapter follows a different person untangling their relationship with the show and the events it is depicting, with the beleaguered screenwriter’s attempts to complete his scripts serving as a throughline.It’s a heart-wrenching and at times deeply funny examination of The Troubles’ lasting imprint in the North of Ireland—and the complicated experience of seeing a painful moment in time become commodified for public consumption.
Forever
Five years after the first installment in her Hollywood Renaissance series, the beloved romance writer is back with a follow-up, this time centered around screenwriter Verity who must reunite with the composer behind her biggest heartbreak to collaborate on a Harlem Renaissance biopic that may make or break both of their careers. With stakes higher than ever, they set out to create a story and score that captures hearts—and possible Oscar glory. Although, in order to move forward Verity and Monk may just have to come to terms with their past.
Bold Type
Years after breaking out with When Brooklyn Was Queer, the historian candidly details his own journey as a queer person in the ‘90s and early 2000s. Weaving through his own experiences with AOL chatrooms and navigating the nightclub scene as a broke student, Hugh Ryan examines the Queer experience in run up to Y2K and the internet boom. It’s compelling, unfiltered and takes a thoughtful approach to detailing the complicated time in a person’s coming of age.
