Jacob Tierney is moving ahead with Season 2 of Heated Rivalry while the series continues to earn recognition for its first season. At the 3rd Critics Choice Celebration of LGBTQ+ Cinema & Television in Los Angeles on Friday, Tierney accepted the Showrunner Award through a pre-recorded video and said he was actively working on the next season to bring it to audiences as soon as possible. He thanked the Critics Choice Association for the honor and expressed regret that he could not attend in person.
In his acceptance speech, Tierney also acknowledged his producing partner Brendan Brady, author Rachel Reid, and the cast and crew behind the Crave/HBO Max drama. The show was renewed for a second season following the success of its debut run, and Tierney has said the new episodes will adapt The Long Game, the only other currently available book in Reid’s series centered on Ilya and Shane.
The story of The Long Game continues 10 years into the relationship between Shane Hollander, played by Hudson Williams, and Ilya Rozanov, played by Connor Storrie. The pair have kept their romance secret, but the tension grows as Ilya wants to make their relationship public while Shane believes staying private is necessary to protect his performance and position at the top of his game.
Tierney previously noted that the series’ second season will draw from this part of the source material, while Reid’s next novel, Unrivaled, is set to continue the story on Sept. 29. Production on Season 2 is expected to begin in August, once Tierney finishes writing the episodes. The update suggests the creative team is now deep into development as it prepares the next chapter of the popular series.
