“Heated Rivals” creator Jacob Tierney says he’s exhausted from the tumultuous past three months since the show premiered on HBO Max, but that hasn’t stopped him from working hard on Season 2.
“I stay in my room all day writing,” Tierney told me Thursday at the GLAAD Media Awards at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills.
Filming is scheduled to begin this summer. “We’re still on track,” Tierney said.
Tierney is trying not to feel any pressure to get through season one. “I think I realized a while ago that what I needed to do was go back to where my head was when I first wrote the books, which was to love these books and try to do the smartest thing I could with them.”
And yes, he will remain “true” to Rachel Reid’s novel. “I’m not going to absolve myself of that now.”
The romantic drama series, about two professional hockey players (Connor Story and Hudson Williams) who fall in love after a 10-year affair, was originally produced for the Canadian streaming service Crave and later released on HBO Max in the US. The season 2 renewal was announced just two weeks after the show premiered on Thanksgiving. HBO Max plans to continue licensing the series’ second season without producing it.
In his acceptance speech at the GLAAD Media Awards, Tierney thanked Crave and HBO for their support, then quipped, “I hope it survives,” referring to the pending Paramount Skydance-Warner Bros. Discovery merger.
Conor Storey, Robbie Goalkeeper, Nadine Baba, Brendan Brady, Jacob Tierney, Francois Arnault, Christina Chan, and Amber Glenn at the 37th Annual GLAAD Media Awards
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In addition to Williams and Story, the “Heated Rivals” cast includes Francois Arnault, Goalkeeper Robbie, Christina Chan, Dylan Walsh, Nadine Baba, Sophie Nellis and Ksenia Daniela Karlamova.
Miley Cyrus and Carly Rae Jepsen have expressed interest in providing music for the show’s second installment. Asked if any of these artists would officially participate, Tierney replied, “No comment.” “What I’m saying is there’s a lot of music on this show, so there’s room for everyone.”
Netflix announced Thursday morning that Tierney will write, direct and executive produce “Alexander,” a drama series about Alexander the Great and Aristotle, based on the novel “The Golden Mean” by Annabelle Ryan.
