Sophie Nélisse is back on the ice-rink romance that took over streaming last winter. Crave lists the Canadian actor among the confirmed returning cast for Heated Rivalry season 2, which the streamer says is scheduled to premiere in spring 2027, with HBO Max signed up again to carry it in the United States.
Nélisse plays Rose Landry, the movie star Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) dates in season 1 before he tells her over dinner that he is gay. The two agree to stay friends, which leaves a door open for her to return as the story moves on.
Is filming finished?
Fans have been watching closely for wrap news. The record so far: production on season 2 began on August 17, 2026, when the show shared a first look at a custom “HR” clapperboard on its official social accounts. According to a November report, seasons 2 and 3 are being shot back to back and were expected to finish in late November or early December. Neither Crave nor Nélisse had posted a formal wrap announcement in the official material we read, so treat any exact wrap date as unconfirmed until the show says so.
Who else is coming back
Crave’s September 3 casting release lists the returning and new players together. Williams and Connor Storrie lead again as Shane and Ilya Rozanov. Also named: François Arnaud, Christina Chang, Dylan Walsh, Robbie G.K., Ksenia Daniela Kharlamova, Callan Potter, Benjamin Roy and Kamilla Kowal. The newcomers are a long list:
- Justice Smith and Charlie Gillespie, as the couple at the center of the Role Model book
- Daniel Diemer and Shaheen Jafargholi, the leads of Tough Guy
- Emily Hampshire, Edvin Ryding, Robert Naylor, Sabrina Jalees and Priyanka
- Kevin Zegers as Coach Wiebe, Paul Gross as league commissioner Roger Crowell, and Milla Jovovich as Dr. Galina Molchalina
Creator Jacob Tierney returns as writer, director and executive producer, and the September release names Mike Goldbach as co-writer on the new season. The story is set to adapt The Long Game, Rachel Reid’s 2022 sequel novel in her hockey romance series.
Why season 2 took longer: a quick timeline
The first season moved fast. The show premiered on Crave on November 28, 2025, with HBO Max streaming it the same day in the US. Two weeks later, on December 12, Crave announced the renewal, calling it the streamer’s biggest original series debut on record. Tierney and executive producer Brendan Brady said at the time that being renewed “so early is a true honour.”
Then the clock slowed. Tierney said the scripts were taking longer than planned, so the follow-up would not land a year after the first. Cameras rolled in August, almost nine months after the premiere, and the release target became spring 2027. That gap means a wait of roughly 16 months between seasons, longer than the six-week run of season 1 itself.
For fans filling the gap, there are two near-term dates. Season 1 has been playing in more than 650 cinemas across North America, the UK, Australia and New Zealand from November 6 to 30, 2026, and a collector’s 4K and Blu-ray set is due on November 24.
The show’s reach keeps spreading, too: we covered how South Park brought back Tweek and Craig for a Heated Rivalry-style episode. For the real-world sport that inspired it, see our story on Carey Price joining the Montreal Canadiens’ Ring of Honor, and more on our entertainment page.
Season 2 of Heated Rivalry is set to premiere on Crave in Canada and HBO Max in the US in spring 2027.
Further reading
Image: Everwest, CC BY 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
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