The lead actors from the well-known Canadian ice hockey series Heated Rivalry are set to participate in the upcoming Olympics. Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie have been selected as torchbearers for the Milan Cortina Games scheduled for February.
Williams, hailing from Kelowna, B.C., portrays Shane Hollander, while Storrie, an American actor, takes on the role of Ilya Rozanov in the Crave-produced drama. The characters Hollander and Rozanov, depicted as top-tier hockey competitors and on-ice rivals, grapple with their emotions for each other beyond the game.
The show Heated Rivalry is slated to debut in Italy on Feb. 1 on HBO Max, which holds the official broadcasting rights for the Milan Cortina Games. Canadian viewers can continue watching it on Crave. The torch’s journey to the Olympic opening ceremony on Feb. 6 has approximately 16 days remaining.
Following its immense success on streaming platforms in Canada and the U.S., Heated Rivalry has already been greenlit for a second season. The series, which comprises six episodes, is an adaptation of the gay hockey romance series Game Changers by Canadian author Rachel Reid. Canadian writer Jacob Tierney, known for his work on Letterkenny and Shoresy, penned the screen adaptation for Crave.