Just over two months ago, few people had heard of Heated Rivalry. Now? It’s HBO Max‘s top acquired scripted series ever.
Warner Bros. Discovery said Monday that the series has now surpassed 10.6M U.S. viewers to date, having more than doubled its viewership since the finale arrived on December 26.
The series, which comes from Canadian studio Crave, was swiftly renewed after Season 1 debuted to far more fanfare than anyone might have expected. The very modest series about a romance between two closeted gay hockey players posted consistent week-over-week growth throughout the first season’s run on HBO Max, Warner Bros. Discovery said. In fact, the company says the finale delivered four times the audience of the premiere.
Since then, stars Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie have done a myriad of press appearances, carried the Olympic torch, and presented at the Golden Globes. All the buzz appears to be paying off, given these latest numbers from WBD.
Created by Canadian writer-director-producer Jacob Tierney (Letterkenny, Shoresy) and based on Rachel Reid best-selling book series Game Changers, the six-episode, one-hour romantic drama tells the story of rival hockey players Shane Hollander (Williams) and Ilya Rozanov (Storrie).
They are two of the biggest stars in Major League Hockey, tied together by their ambition, rivalry and a magnetic pull neither of them understands. They begin a secret fling as rookies that morphs into a long journey of love, denial and self-discovery over the next eight years. They’re forced to decide if there is room for love in their fiercely competitive world.
The series is distributed internationally by Sphere Abacus, which is owned by Canadian producer Sphere Media and the primary distributor of programming from Bell, which is also a stakeholder in the UK-based company.
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