Before “Heated Rivals” quickly became a global TV phenomenon, star Connor Story wasn’t entirely sure how his character, Russian hockey player Ilya Rozanov, would be received by fans — especially since “the original story was torn apart online,” he said on a recent podcast, “Shut Up Evan,” hosted by Evan Ross-Katz.
“I’m very optimistic, but I also believe strongly in optimistic nihilism. I accept the worst, but hope for the best,” Storey continued. “As pessimistic as it sounds, I went through this whole process accepting the worst-case scenario that my performance would be hated. I’m so wrong for this role and I’m going to be torn apart by people who love this book, and if that’s the case, all I can do is try to give an honest performance and trust that Jacob[Tierney]knows the story well enough to bring the right moments.”
The show was created by Jacob Tierney, based on material from author Rachel Reid’s popular book series Game Changers, which centers on Lozanov’s secret 10-year relationship with fellow hockey player Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams). The show quickly shot to the top of the charts since its November debut. The Crave-produced romance became the Canadian streamer’s most-watched original series and the highest-rated non-animated series on HBO Max.
The center of attention was William and Story’s performance. Later in the podcast, Story discussed how he approaches the show’s key moments that fans of the books will expect.
“For moments like that,” Story explained, explaining the now-talked-about “Come to the Cottage” moment at the end of episode five, “we had some ideas about trying to play it true to the book. But Jacob just knows the book. He knows the story like the back of his hand. I’ve read the book twice, I’ve read all the scripts a million times.”
Storey also noted the importance of not getting too caught up in “trying to please the fans.” “Honestly, I think in acting and in the arts in general, trying to feed too much into what other people want is like killing what is actually human and moving.”
