‘Heated Rivalry’ Creator Says Season 2 Is Coming ‘as Soon as Possible’

Tierney previously confirmed that Season 2 would begin shooting in August after he finishes writing the episodes. It’s set to be based on Rachel Reid’s book The Long Game, which continues the relationship between Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) and Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie). Although The Long Game is Reid’s final book in the series (for now), Tierney told Deadline last year there is a lot of story to tell.

“Season 2 will be based around The Long Game,” he said in December. “I don’t have details. I have not started writing, so I’m not just trying to be evasive. I genuinely don’t know yet. I’m so lucky to have a whole world of books here to grab things from, to use, to add color, to add context, to add story. I can tell you I’m really excited to get back to writing. I’m excited to get back into this world with them, and I’m looking forward to it.”

He added, “Here’s what I can say too, is that Heated Rivalry will always be centered around Shane and Ilya, this show. But we have a whole universe here, and so there’s loads of other things that we’re thinking about and that we’re gonna explore and that we’re gonna start to take more seriously now that we know that there’s an audience for it. And that’s pretty exciting, so I’m looking forward to really digging into this world.”

Reid’s next book, Unrivaled, will depict another continuation of the beloved couple’s relationship.

“At the end of [the second book in the series, The Long Game], they’re married, and they’re teammates, and everybody knows about their relationship,” she told Rolling Stone earlier this month. “I could have left it there, but over the years, I couldn’t stop thinking about it,” she says. “They’ve never really had a normal relationship where they haven’t been hiding, or where they’ve been together this much. So there’s a lot to explore.”