Heated Rivalry has found overwhelming success on HBO, but that doesn’t mean it will sweep at the Emmys.
Heated Rivalry premiered in November on Bell Media’s Crave in Canada before becoming available to an even wider audience through HBO Max. According to past Emmy rules, a foreign TV production “is ineligible unless it is the result of a co-production (both financially and creatively) between U.S. and foreign partners, which precedes the start of production, and with a purpose to be shown on U.S. television.”
The show was fully funded by the Canadian company before HBO signed on to become the U.S. distributor, which affected its awards show consideration for season 1 — and season 2.
“We’re not going to be involved,” HBO CEO Casey Bloys told Variety this month. “I think the last thing the show needs is people meddling in what works. So, I don’t feel any need to weigh in. Clearly, they’ve got a good sense of the show and what works. I will be excited to receive my episodes, and highlight them on HBO Max.”
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Despite not being eligible at the U.S. awards show, Heated Rivalry will still have a chance at the International Emmys.
Based on Rachel Reid‘s Game Changers book series, Heated Rivalry follows rival professional hockey players Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) and Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie), whose animosity on the ice is just a front for a secret — and very passionate — romance.
“It was an easy and very quick ‘yes.’ Obviously, I’m a gay man, so I had a sense that it might make some waves,” Bloys told Variety about HBO’s interest in the series. “I thought it was very well done. To tell you the truth, I was surprised that it was even available, because this was about three weeks before it aired.”
Bloys noted he was “very impressed” by how affordable the acquisition was, adding, “I don’t know their budgets, but I’m very impressed with what they did based on the acquisition cost. This isn’t a huge tentpole budget that we’re looking at.”
Showrunner Jacob Tierney, meanwhile, was thrilled to expand Heated Rivalry‘s reach with a streaming home in the U.S. after being licensed to Crave in Canada.
“We were always like, ‘We’re trying to make premium smut here,’ and so we’re now premium smut on HBO!” Tierney told the outlet. “That would be the dream. But we’ve been doing this long enough to know that nothing guarantees you an audience anymore. There’s so much good TV out there, that to break through the noise feels like such a gift.”
Following the season 1 finale, Heated Rivalry is the top-rated non-animated acquired series on HBO Max since its 2020 launch. It is also among the top five of all scripted debuts on HBO Max this year. On Crave, meanwhile, it has become the most watched original show in Canada.
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“When I signed up for this, it was a Canadian television show that was getting put up on Crave, which is a strictly Canadian streamer,” Storrie, 25, told The Hollywood Reporter earlier this month. “I was still super excited about that because to me, that meant we were going to do a limited series in a more independent way. Sometimes, that’s where a lot of magic can happen. Maybe it’ll have some sort of international distribution at some point, but at the end of the day, I was excited to work. I was excited to work on something that was so specific and cool.”
Storrie continued: “Getting that next level of distribution, it’s the dream. Everyone that I’ve talked to in the industry and on the distribution or the sales side [has said] this doesn’t happen. As an actor, you just always hope that things pop off. We do this, we make stuff so that it can be seen, it can be shared and so that it can affect people and it can become part of the cultural ethos. It looks like it’s doing that, so it’s so cool. I’m also kind of nihilistic in the way where I just — I don’t think it’s a bad thing, I actually think it’s a good thing — always expect the worst. I hope for the best. Shoot for the stars and expect the worst.”
Heated Rivalry is now streaming on HBO Max.
