The world of Heated Rivalry is getting considerably bigger for season two, with five new cast members announced for the hit queer hockey drama.
Emily Hampshire, Priyanka, Edvin Ryding, Sabrina Jalees and Robert Naylor are officially joining the series, giving fans some major clues about which of Rachel Reid’s Game Changers novels could feature in the new season.
Hampshire, best known as Stevie Budd in Schitt’s Creek, will play Vanessa, while season one Canada’s Drag Race winner Priyanka has been cast as Tarek.
Both characters are friends of Fabian Salah from Reid’s novel Tough Guy, strongly suggesting elements of that book will be incorporated into season two. Abdalla Amour has previously been linked to the role of musician Fabian, although that casting has not been officially confirmed.
Meanwhile, Young Royals favourite Edvin Ryding joins as Luca Haas, and queer comedian and actor Sabrina Jalees will play Farah Jalali, the sports agent connected to Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov.
Robert Naylor rounds out the latest additions as Ottawa Centaurs goaltender Wyatt Hayes.
And Naylor comes with possibly the most unexpected credit of the lot: he previously voiced D.W. — Dora Winifred Read — in the beloved animated series Arthur between 2007 and 2012.
Yes, D.W. is entering the Heated Rivalry universe.
The Game Changers universe is expanding
The latest casting suggests season two will broaden the series beyond Shane and Ilya’s central romance.
The new season is expected to adapt The Long Game, Reid’s sequel to Heated Rivalry, while also introducing characters from other novels in the Game Changers series.
Justice Smith and Charlie Gillespie were recently announced as Harris Drover and Troy Barrett, the central couple from Role Model.
Now the arrival of Vanessa and Tarek points towards Tough Guy also becoming part of the television universe.
That could make season two considerably more expansive than the first, weaving together several of Reid’s queer hockey romances while continuing Shane and Ilya’s story.
For LGBTQ+ viewers, the new cast also brings plenty of queer talent into the mix. Hampshire has publicly identified as pansexual, Priyanka is a major figure in Canadian drag, and Jalees is openly lesbian.
Exactly how all these characters fit together remains to be seen — but the Heated Rivalry bench is getting very crowded.
And somewhere in the Ottawa Centaurs’ goal is the former voice of D.W.
