The creator of Heated Rivalry shut down a question about Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie‘s real-life sexualities after the pair played love interests in HBO Max’s queer sports drama.
Jacob Tierney noted in an interview published on November 28 that Williams and Storrie’s offscreen love lives are irrelevant compared to the “enthusiasm and willingness” they brought to their roles.
“I don’t think there’s any reason to get into that stuff,” Tierney, 46, told LGBTQ+ magazine Xtra when asked about the relevance of Williams and Storrie’s sexualities. “I’ll tell you something about the casting of both of these roles. You can’t ask questions like that when you’re casting, right? It’s actually against the law. So what you have to gauge is somebody’s enthusiasm and willingness to do the work.”
Tierney was thrilled that Williams, 24, and Storrie, 25, led the cast of the viral series.
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“And that’s what’s so impressive about both of these guys is they came into this being like, ‘Yeah, we’re here to do this, and we are here to make this story feel authentic and to be as real as possible,’” he continued. “They f***ing hit it out of the park.”
Based on Rachel Reid‘s Game Changers book series, Heated Rivalry follows two rival professional hockey players, Shane Hollander (Williams) and Ilya Rozanov (Storrie), whose animosity on the ice is just a front for a secret — and very passionate — romance.
The show premiered on Canadian streaming service Crave in November before becoming available to an even wider audience through HBO Max. Viewers have rushed to tune in to the show — in large part because of the chemistry between Storrie and Williams in their steamy scenes.
“Hudson was the third actor that I read with. The first two I was like, ‘OK, this is cool,’ and then Hudson came on. Jacob actually texted me directly and was like, ‘What do you think?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, Hudson, for sure.’ Instantly,’” Storrie recalled while speaking with Out magazine in November.
Williams had a similar experience with his audition.
“I read with one other possible Ilya, and it was good. But something about Connor,” he noted. “There was an inexplicable X-factor that just felt realer than what I thought it could possibly be. And that was something. I had a quote I told Jacob, at one point, about my read with Connor in particular.”
Tierney recalled the conversation, saying, “Hudson told me, ‘The other guy was good, but Connor felt like he was going to pin me down and f*** me.’ That is literally what he said. And I was like, ‘Well, I think I cast this right.’”
New episodes of Heated Rivalry air Fridays on HBO Max.