‘Heated Rivalry’ Creator Jacob Tierney Says Season 2 ‘Still on Track’ to Start Shooting This Summer: ‘I’m in a Room All Day Long Writing’

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“Heated Rivalry” creator Jacob Tierney says he’s exhausted from the whirlwind of the last three months since the show premiered on HBO Max, but that hasn’t stopped him from working hard on Season 2.

“I’m in a room all day writing,” Tierney told me at the GLAAD Media Awards on Thursday at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills.

Shooting is set to begin this summer. “We’re still on track,” Tierney said.

Tierney is trying not to feel the pressure of living up to Season 1. “I think I realized a little while ago that what I have to do is go back to where my head was at the first time I wrote, which was love these books and try to make the smartest thing I can make of it.”

Tierney is trying not to feel the pressure of living up to Season 1. “I think I realized a little while ago that what I have to do is go back to where my head was at the first time I wrote, which was love these books and try to make the smartest thing I can make of it.”

And yes, he will stay “faithful” to Rachel Reid’s novel: “I’m not going to bail on that now.”

The romantic drama series, which follows two professional hockey players (Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams) who fall in love after carrying on a decade-long affair, was originally created for Canadian streaming service Crave and was later released on HBO Max in the U.S. The Season 2 renewal was announced just two weeks after the show premiered over Thanksgiving. HBO Max will continue to license the series for its second season without producing.

During his acceptance speech at the GLAAD Media Awards, Tierney thanked Crave as well as HBO for its support before quipping, “We hope you continue to exist,” a reference to the pending merger of Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery.

Connor Storrie, Robbie GK, Nadine Bhabha, Brendan Brady, Jacob Tierney, François Arnaud, Christina Chang and Amber Glenn at the 37th GLAAD Media AwardsBillboard via Getty Images

Along with Williams and Storrie, the “Heated Rivalry” cast includes François Arnaud, Robbie G.K., Christina Chang, Dylan Walsh, Nadine Bhabha, Sophie Nélisse and Ksenia Daniela Kharlamova.

Miley Cyrus and Carly Rae Jepsen have expressed interest in contributing music to the show’s sophomore outing. “I have no comment,” Tierney said when asked if either of those artists are officially on board. “What I will say is there’s a lot of music on the show, so there’s room for everybody.”

Netflix announced Thursday morning that Tierney will write, direct and executive produce “Alexander,” a drama series about Alexander the Great and Aristotle being adapted from Annabel Lyon’s novel “The Golden Mean.”