Christmas comes early for romance girlies. Crave has set the premiere date for its much-anticipated queer romance series Heated Rivalry for November 28.
Created by award-winning Canadian writer-director-producer Jacob Tierney (Letterkenny) and based on the best-selling book series Game Changers by Rachel Reid, the six-episode, one-hour romantic drama tells the story of rival hockey players Shane and Ilya.
What begins as a secret fling ignites into an all-consuming blaze and culminates in a powerful love story.
In Heated Rivarly, Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) and Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie) are two of the biggest stars in Major League Hockey, bound by ambition, rivalry, and a magnetic pull neither of them fully understands.
What begins as a secret fling between two fresh-faced rookies evolves into a years-long journey of love, denial, and self-discovery. Over the next eight years, the pair chase glory on the ice while struggling to navigate their feelings off it.
Torn between the sport they live for and the love they can’t ignore, Shane and Ilya must decide if there is room in their fiercely competitive world for something as fragile and as powerful as real love.
Love and Desire Burn Strong in ‘Heated Rivarly’ Trailer
Crave released a trailer that previews events in the series as Shane and Ilya’s worlds collide.
Both are respected in their fields, but they play for opposing teams, with the former playing for Canada and the latter for Russia.
Shane is friendly and outgoing, while Ilya is aloof and terse. However, when has that ever stopped two handsome guys from being attracted to each other?
The duo develops a secret relationship, employing all manner of buffers to keep it hidden.
They never interact in public and have each other saved on their phones using different names.
The trailer hints at an intense and erotically charged relationship. But can it withstand the pressures of the outside world?
“I wanted to bring Heated Rivalry to life and share its shameless, funny, epic, sexy, and deeply romantic journey with the world,” said Tierney. He added:
“When I first spoke to Rachel Reid, I told her I wanted to approach this book with the care and seriousness it deserves, because it truly does. Shane and Ilya deserve that. And so does the queer community, a love story complete with the kind of happy ending gay people almost never get in media.“
The cast also includes François Arnaud as Scott Hunter, Robbie G.K. as Kip Grady, Christina Chang and Dylan Walsh as Yuna and David Hollander, Sophie Nélisse as Rose Landry, and Ksenia Daniela Kharlamova as Svetlana.
The first two episodes drop on Friday, Nov. 28, followed by one new episode on subsequent Fridays until the finale on Dec. 26.