BookCon 2026: How ‘Heated Rivalry’ Season 2 Will Change ‘Role Model’s Tone

Nicole WeaverSun, April 19, 2026 at 2:35 PM UTC

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Crave's Heated Rivalry adapted the book of the same name. It's the second one in the Game Changer series by Rachel Reid. The tricky thing is that the other books focus on characters in the same league as Shane (Hudson Williams) and Ilya (Connor Storrie), and are part of their later story.

Season 2 will adapt the book, Role Model, which was released before The Long Game. Showrunner Jacob Tierney revealed what he'll change in Role Model to fit it into season 2 and 3.

‘Heated Rivalry’ Season 2 Will Lean Into ‘Damaged’ Troy Barrett

Hudson Williams as Shane Hollander in 'Heated Rivalry' Sabrina Lantos HBO Max

Troy Barrett is the main character in Role Model, and the book starts when he joins Ottawa's team after Ilya joins and becomes their captain. Troy gets a romantic story along with his emotional journey to come out.

Related: ‘Heated Rivalry’ Book, ‘Unrivaled’ Gets Delayed

"There is an easy, facile way of looking at Role Model," Tierney said at BookCon, according to Entertainment Weekly. "It's very 'grumpy sunshine.' It's very 'apple orchard.' It can drift into things that you want, but Troy is a really damaged guy. And Troy is quite damaged on the show. I would say we're digging into that even harder."

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Troy is a character full of angst, which is fitting for Ilya's story in The Long Game. The two books overlap in their timeline.

Of course, Shane and Ilya's story will look different from the first season. "What do you do after the rush of danger is gone and yet now you have to live in a relationship where you still aren't communicating properly, much as you would like to?" the showrunner asked.

"You can say you love each other, but as adults know, there's so much more than that to make a relationship successful. And that is what they're learning," he continued.

Heated Rivalry Season 2 might split The Long Game across two seasons to fit all the plot points. Season 2 is expected to be released in April 2027.

Related: Margaret Cho ‘Pissed’ She Declined ‘Heated Rivalry’ Fearing Border Issues

This story was originally published by Parade on Apr 19, 2026, where it first appeared in the Books section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”