“Heated Rivals” stars Hudson Williams and Connor Story recently spoke to Out Magazine about the intense chemistry that emerged during the audition process for the LGBTQ hockey romance series.
“Hudson was the third actor I read for,” recalls Storey, who plays Ilya Rozanov, a Russian-American player on the Boston Raiders. “The first two guys were like, ‘Okay, this is cool.’ Then Hudson came along. Jacob (Tierney) actually texted me directly and was like, ‘What do you think?'” And I was like, ‘Oh, Hudson, sure.’ immediately. ”
Williams, who plays Montreal Metros pro Shane Hollander, added, “I read the book with another Elijah candidate, and it was good. But with Connor… there was this inexplicable X-factor that made it feel more real than I probably thought it could be. And that was something. There’s something I said to Jacob at one point about reading with Connor in particular.”
Williams couldn’t remember exactly what he said after a chemistry test with Story, so he asked “Heated Rivals” creator and showrunner Jacob Tierney to say it for him.
“Hudson said to me, ‘The other guy was good, but I felt like Conor was going to hold me down and fuck me,'” Tierney later told Out Magazine. “That’s literally what he said, and I was like, ‘Oh, I think this was right,'” he added.
Based on Rachel Reid’s best-selling Game Changers series, Rivals tells the love story of rival hockey players Shane Hollander (Williams) and Ilya Rozanov (Story). The cast also includes Francois Arnault, Robbie GK, Christina Cheung, Dylan Walsh, Sophie Nellis, and Ksenia Daniela Karlamova.
The six-episode show had multiple international sales, including a premiere on HBO Max in the U.S. and Australia, ahead of its Nov. 28 premiere on Crave in Canada. New episodes are released every Friday.
