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This is a good thing for television, for LGBTQ+ media, for HBO Max, for Canada, for viewers, and of course, for the actors.
Their reactions to the chatter is pretty chill.
‘Heated Rivalry’ is a smash hit
What began as a faithful Canadian adaptation of Rachel Reid’s novel has become a breakout hit in the United States by way of HBO Max and a much larger audience.
Storrie portrays Ilya Grigoryevich Rozanov, a Russian-born hockey player and captain of the Boston Raiders.
Williams plays Shane Hollander, an Ottawa-born hockey star of Japanese descent. He is the captain of the Montreal Metros.
The story covers these rival captains as widespread media coverage hypes up their apparent animosity on the ice.
In private, however, the two develop a sexual relationship. It begins casually, but intensifies over the years until it is no longer a secret.
The show has a compelling premise. LGBTQ+ sports fandom is larger than you might think (especially with hockey).
Real-world hockey players have remarked on how eerily similar the characters’ stories are to their own lives when they were closeted.
Heated Rivalry comes out at a time when LGBTQ+ rights are under siege across the United States. Watching a show isn’t activism, but representation does matter.
Also, the show has butts. Pretty famously, the series faithfully adapted the book’s steamy scenes.
And that has put the two main stars in a pickle (pun unintended) when it comes to some frankly inappropriate fan speculation about their own lives.
Sexuality speculation about the real actors has run rampant
Storrie and Williams have unquestionable on-screen chemistry.
While speaking to Deadline, Williams discussed the speculation that the actors might themselves be part of the LGBTQ+ community.
He chalked this discussion up to “just the nature of celebrity.” You know? He’s not wrong.
“I think there’s never a question for me, when I would dream of becoming in the public eye, that I would want just a level of privacy,” he admitted. “But of course, I agree.”
Williams affirmed: “I want queer people telling queer stories, but also, there’s the element of Connor and I — we’re best friends, and we love expressing that physically.” They do have phenomenal chemistry.
Storrie emphasized in the same interview that he values having “a little bit of separation from the character in the show.”
He expressed: “All I can really say is that I love Ilya, I love the community that this is a part of and that this caters to.”
Storrie continued: “I think that’s so much more interesting and valuable than doing just another run-of-the-mill, straight story.” He’s so right.
Speaking for himself, he added: “Who I date, who I sleep with, who this, that, whatever, I’m gonna keep that to myself.”
Storrie concluded: “But regardless, I think this is super important, and I think also on top of that, it’s just really cool.”
An alleged ex is rumored to have been leaking old photos
According to various social media posts, including one on Reddit, a man claiming to be an ex of Storrie’s has been attempting to show evidence of a past relationship.
Obviously, this is bad behavior. Either it’s true, and he’s betraying a former partner for, what, clout? Revenge? Or it’s false, and it’s a weird lie.
Speaking of weird, how is it 2026 and people are still doing the public speculation about actor sexualities?
Yes, it was annoying like 20 years ago when famously straight actors would win awards for playing gay roles while gay actors were told to remain in the closet.
And yes, gay and bi actors are sometimes still discouraged from coming out for the sake of their careers.
But we just cannot be, as a society, outing or attempting to out actors. It’s an inherently homophobic behavior. Also the people trying to find “proof” sound just a few steps removed from transvestigators.