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“Heated Conflict” Creator Jacob Tierney gives a sneak peek at what fans should expect in season 2.
Tierney said on “CBS Mornings” that the next season of the hit show on HBO Max will debut “late spring”.
“I don’t have an official date yet. I’m not hiding anything,” said Tierney.
He said that the upcoming season will focus on the relationship between Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov, played by Hudson Williams and Connor Story. Tierney said it will be largely based on “The Long Game,” the sixth installment of Rachel Reid’s “Game Changer” hockey romance series.
“My north star in this show, because there are a lot of books in this series, I’m focusing on Shane and Ilya and we’re watching this relationship. There are new couples and characters that intersect. It’s a much more expanded universe. It’s a bigger show in that way,” Tierney said.
He said the second season will explore what Shane and Ilya do after they “find quiet happiness at the end of season 1” and how it “translates to the rest of their lives”.
Using intimacy as a storytelling device in “Heated Rivalry”
Tierney gives fans a glimpse into the making of the series in his new book, “I’ll Believe in Anything: The Making of Heated Rivalry Season 1.” Among the most talked about parts of the series are the steamy sexual scenes.
“I wanted to make sure that the genre told a story, that we learn things about these characters through the way they connect with each other sexually,” Tierney said, adding that he “didn’t want it to feel redundant.”
“I was happy to do a show that was steamy, that was sexy, that was great. I think that’s fun. But I wanted to make sure that we were watching this relationship through some of those more physical and intimate moments because it’s about two guys who don’t talk to each other,” he said.
The creator and executive producer said that viewers watch Shane and Ilya have a physical relationship in the first half of the season that “gathers into a meaning for them that is very, very important and that they cannot express.”
Music selection in the series
In his new book, Tierney also revealed that he centered episode five in the first season around the song “I’ll Believe in Anything” by Wolf Parade. Tierney told “CBS Mornings” that he fell in love with Wolf Parade when he was in his early 20s.
“I think the music you fall in love with when you’re young is the music that means so much to you,” Tierney said.
He said that he is looking for songs that he believes are powerful and should be very successful.
“These are songs that mean a lot to me. In my head I’m saying, ‘Why isn’t this number 1?'” said Tierney.
