Heated Rivalry’s meteoric rise remains one of the biggest television moments of the last year, but you won’t be seeing the show score any Emmy nominations come Wednesday morning’s announcement. It’s not due to quality or even timeframe — the show aired firmly within the Emmys’ eligibility window — it’s due to the production itself.
Emmy rules state that television shows financed by production companies outside of the U.S. are ineligible for the Primetime Emmy Awards. Heated Rivalry, unfortunately for the show and its many fans, falls into that ineligible bucket, as it hails from Canadian media company Bell Media and airs on its streaming service Crave. The show is, however, eligible for the International Emmy Awards.
The show has already had a lucrative awards run in its home country. Heated Rivalry took home 16 awards at the 2026 Canadian Screen Awards, including best drama series, best lead performer for Hudson Williams, best direction and writing for a drama series for Jacob Tierney, best supporting performer for Sophie Nélisse and more.
Heated Rivalry’s other leading man, Connor Storrie, was not eligible for the Canadian Screen Awards, as he’s American. Meaning his performance is ineligible for both award shows; however, fans might still see his name pop up during Wednesday morning’s nomination announcements.
Storrie just might earn a nomination in the best guest actor in a comedy series for his Saturday Night Live hosting gig earlier in the year. The actor hosted the Feb. 28 episode of the long-running sketch comedy series, which featured Mumford & Sons as the musical guest. He brought out his pal and onscreen beau Williams for a sketch in the episode.
Heated Rivalry, which airs on HBO Max in the U.S., centers on a fictional hockey universe based on the popular romance books by Reid. The show’s first season is based on the second novel, Heated Rivalry. Tierney created, wrote and directed the series.
Heated Rivalry focuses on two rival professional players — Canada-born Shane Hollander (Williams) of the fictitious Montreal Metros and Russia-born Ilya Rozanov (Storrie) of the fictitious Boston Raiders — as they navigate a near-decade-long situationship-turned-relationship. The show has made certified stars out of both Storrie and Williams.
Crave renewed Heated Rivalry for a second season early into the show’s first season run. HBO Max has confirmed it will continue to air the series. The show is slated to shoot the second season this summer and is aiming for a spring 2027 release. The upcoming season will be based on the next installment of Shane and Ilya’s story in Reid’s novels, The Long Game, along with the fifth book in the series, Role Model.
Reid announced earlier this year that she’ll be publishing her seventh book in the Game Changers series. The book, Unrivaled, will be the next chapter in Shane and Ilya’s story, which is set to be released in June 2027.
