Heated Rivalry is officially returning for Season 2. HBO Max and Crave dropped the news in December 2025, right after the first season hit. The hockey romance has become a cultural phenomenon, since it blew up as Crave’s biggest original series and gave HBO Max its best launch for a non-animated import since forever.Season 1 wrapped up on December 26, 2025. The last episode was titled The Cottage. Shane and Ilya finally got to ditch the chaos and just breathe for a hot minute, which they earned after all that drama. Scott and Kip went full public with their big championship kiss. The finale tied up the secret romance between Shane and Ilya, but more mess and heartache are waiting next season.Will Heated Rivalry Season 2 happen? View this post on Instagram Instagram PostHeated Rivalry hadn’t even finished its first season, and it was already renewed for Season 2. Justin Stockman, Vice President of Content and Programming at Bell Media, complimented the show, saying that this is peak Canadian TV, and the rest of the world seems to love it too.Jacob Tierney (the creator) and Brendan Brady (executive producer) sounded genuinely blown away. In an official statement, they said it was unexpected to watch the show blow up across the globe and to land a second season this early. They called it a huge honor. Showrunners have promised to keep things real and stick to what made everyone binge the first round.The increased distribution agreements have been part of the renewal. The HBO Max of Warner Bros Discovery has obtained the rights to Season 2 for Europe (the UK, Ireland, Spain, and Turkey are not included), Asia, and Latin America, and Neon/Sky New Zealand is also coming back for the second season. The international growth is a sign of the show's big popularity not only in the Canadian and American markets, where it was first sold.What to expect from Heated Rivalry Season 2?A still from Heated Rivalry (Image via Instagram/ heatedrivalrycrave)Reportedly, Heated Rivalry Season 2 is jumping into The Long Game, which is book six in Rachel Reid’s Game Changers series. And if you are wondering, it’s a sequel to Heated Rivalry. Connor Storrie already revealed in interviews, saying that if viewers are curious, they can read the book.Storrie was quoted as saying by Out magazine:“Start reading The Long Game if you want to spoil it for yourself.”We are picking up about ten years into Shane and Ilya’s secret romance. That’s either commitment or maybe just a ton of stress. They have been hiding everything from literally everyone: friends, family, and even the league. Shane is convinced that keeping things under wraps is the only way he can stay on top of his game. Meanwhile, Ilya is totally over the hiding. He wants the real deal: closeness, actual intimacy, maybe even the chaos that comes with being out in the open.In The Long Game, Ilya bails on his Boston team and joins Ottawa just so he can be closer to Shane in Montreal. Which, of course, has the hockey world scratching their heads because why would a superstar ditch a good team for a bad one? And that’s before you factor in the toll all this secrecy is taking, especially on Ilya. The season will probably dig into his struggles, therapy, so brace yourself for some feels.At the heart of Heated Rivalry, Shane and Ilya have to figure out if it’s time to stop playing it safe and finally put their relationship first, even if it means sacrificing a bit of hockey glory. Hockey or love: pick one. That’s the big question. Expect all the drama, the angst, and the queer storytelling that made everyone obsessed with the first season.There’s bad news for anyone hoping to binge Heated Rivalry Season 2 anytime soon. In an interview with Variety, Tierney admitted that, compared to last year, when he already had five episodes written by now, he has nothing. Not a single episode in the bag for Season 2 yet. So there’s no way the show is dropping next year.“It can’t be the same time next year, because this time last year I’d written five of these, and this time this year I’ve written zero of them. It’s going to be a little bit later. But it’s still going to be soon.”If you were panicking about Season 2 tanking and pulling a sophomore slump, chill out. Tierney and crew are clearly in no rush to screw this up. They are holding out for good scripts, real emotions, all the stuff that made the first season hit so hard. So, it’s a long wait, but at least they are not trying to serve us something half-baked to cash in on the hype.