Brendan Brady, Jacob Tierney, Ksenia Daniela Kharlamova, Dylan Walsh, Hudson Williams, Connor Storrie, Christina Chang and Rachel Reid attend the premiere of 'Heated Rivalry' at TIFF Lightbox on November 24, 2025 in Toronto, Ontario. Harold Feng/Getty Images Logo text Rachel Reid is pushing back against negative comments about Heated Rivalry‘s latest season two casting. The author, who wrote the novels that the show is based upon, took to Instagram Friday to weigh into online debate about the casting of the characters Troy Barrett and Harris Drover in the upcoming season. It was announced Friday that Charlie Gillespie was cast as Troy, a professional hockey player who is traded to the Ottawa Centaurs in Reid’s source material, while Justice Smith was cast as Harris, the team’s social media manager.
“Thinking about all the people last summer who told me the casting for Ilya and Shane was wrong and bad…” she wrote on an Instagram story. Some fans online were criticizing the decision to cast a “skinny” actor to play the character of Harris, who was described as chubbier than the hockey players of the book.
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Harris and Troy’s budding relationship drives Reid’s novel Role Model, the fifth installment of her Game Changers series, which Heated Rivalry the series is based on. “Rachel Reid has given us two beautifully layered characters in Harris and Troy who you can’t help but root for,” showrunner Jacob Tierney and executive producer Brendan Brady said in a release about the casting.
“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,” the statement continued. “They immediately connected with the vulnerability and resilience at the core of these characters, bringing an instinctive understanding of who Harris and Troy are.”
Ottawa is expected to be the season two home for main character Ilya Rozanov, played by Connor Storrie, who moves to the low-ranking Canadian team. The Russian hockey player made the decision to move to the team in the finale of the show’s first season to be closer to Heated Rivalry’s other main character and his now-boyfriend, Shane Hollander, played by Hudson Williams.
Crave renewed Heated Rivalry for a second season early into the show’s first season run. HBO Max has confirmed it will continue to air the series. The show will begin shooting its second season this month and is aiming for a spring 2027 release.
Tierney serves as writer, director and executive producer on the series. Brady and Jayme Alter Wilson serve as executive producers, alongside Lori Fischburg and Liane Cunje as producers. Reid serves as a consulting producer. Mike Goldbach joins season two as co-writer alongside Tierney.
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