Heated Rivalry Casts Justice Smith, Charlie Gillespie

The hit romantic drama series "Heated Rivalry" has cast actors Justice Smith and Charlie Gillespie in leading roles for its upcoming second season. The announcement was made on August 7, 2026, as the production prepares to begin filming this month. Smith will play Harris Drover, a social media manager for the fictional Ottawa Centaurs hockey team, while Gillespie will portray Troy Barrett, a closeted professional hockey player newly traded to the same team.

The new actors will join returning stars Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams, who play the central couple Ilya Rozanov and Shane Hollander. The second season will draw its narrative from two novels in author Rachel Reid's "Game Changers" book series. The primary source will be Reid's sixth novel, "The Long Game," which continues the story of Shane and Ilya as they navigate a committed but still-secret relationship years after their initial romance. Concurrently, the storyline for Harris and Troy will be adapted from the fifth book, "Role Model," which chronicles their budding relationship.

Series creator and showrunner Jacob Tierney, alongside executive producer Brendan Brady, said in a statement that Reid had given them two...