Heated Rivalry Season 2 Plot of The Long Game, New Role Model Characters

Heated Rivalry fans aren’t getting iced out.

Creator Jacob Tierney let fans in on some behind-the-scenes details of season two, which is expected to film this summer and debut in April 2027.

While speaking with Heated Rivalry author Rachel Reid at New York City for BookCon 2026, Tierney explained how he’s turning the 2022 sequel The Long Game into season two—but with some “parts” of her 2021 novel Role Model added in.

That means viewers will meet new characters Troy Barrett, who joins the Ottawa Centaurs alongside Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie) and develops a connection with Harris Drover, the hockey team’s social media manager, as the pair’s story takes center stage in Role Model.

“There is an easy, facile way of looking at Role Model,” Tierney said at the event, according to Entertainment Weekly. “It’s very ‘grumpy sunshine.’ It’s very ‘apple orchard.’ It can drift into things that you want, but Troy is a really damaged guy. And Troy is quite damaged on the show. I would say we’re digging into that even harder.”