The wait for season two just got a little easier, with Heated Rivalry creator Jacob Tierney releasing a book that takes fans behind the scenes of the show’s first season.
I’ll Believe in Anything: The Making of Heated Rivalry Season 1 (The Annotated Scripts) hits Australian shelves on Tuesday, October 13, through Hachette Australia‘s Trapeze imprint.
It will be available in hardback (RRP $55) and as an ebook (RRP $24.99), and is available to pre-order now.
As the title suggests, the book collects the official scripts for all six episodes of the hit series, annotated by Tierney himself.
According to Hachette, Tierney, his producing partner Brendan Brady and their production company Accent Aigu reveal the creative process behind the show’s intimate scenes, its costume choices and how its story was structured.
The publisher says the book shows how the team “drew on a deep reverence for Reid’s work” – that’s Canadian author Rachel Reid, whose Game Changers novels the series is adapted from.
Eagle-eyed fans will recognise the title, too. “I’ll Believe in Anything” is the name of the show’s fifth episode, which takes its name from the Wolf Parade song that plays during its final scene.
That episode briefly tied with Breaking Bad‘s “Ozymandias” as the only TV episodes with a perfect 10/10 rating on IMDb.
READ MORE: Heated Rivalry season two: the new castings, and the theory behind that shaved head
How Heated Rivalry became a global phenomenon
For anyone who somehow missed it, Heated Rivalry follows Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) and Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie), two rival professional hockey players who strike up a secret relationship that spans years.
The six-part series premiered on Canadian streamer Crave on November 28, 2025, and dropped at the same time on HBO Max in the US and here in Australia.
With little promotion behind it, the show spread almost entirely by word of mouth, and it didn’t take long to explode.
HBO Max renewed it for a second season on December 12, before the first had even finished airing.
By February, the streamer said 10.6 million US viewers had watched, making it the most-watched scripted acquired series in HBO Max history, according to TheWrap.
“Watching our show become an international phenomenon has been extraordinary,” Tierney and Brady said at the time.
The fandom reached Australia too. Melbourne hosted a Heated Rivalry club night rewatch, while a Sydney look-alike competition had to be moved out of a public park after the council raised safety concerns.
The awards followed. The series earned 18 Canadian Screen Award nominations, winning best drama series and best lead performance for Williams, as well as a Peabody nomination and the GLAAD Award for Outstanding New Television Series.
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Who is Jacob Tierney?
If the name sounds familiar, it should.
The Montreal-born filmmaker started out as a child actor, with roles in Are You Afraid of the Dark? and Josh and S.A.M., before moving behind the camera.
He wrote and directed the feature films Twist and Good Neighbours, and co-developed the cult Canadian comedy Letterkenny, later directing its spin-off Shoresy.
Now an Emmy-recognised showrunner and co-president of Accent Aigu Entertainment, Tierney created, wrote and directed Heated Rivalry.
What we know about season two
Season two is well under way, with filming kicking off in August.
Tierney returns to write and direct, and the new season will adapt Reid’s 2022 sequel The Long Game, picking up Shane and Ilya’s story.
READ MORE: All the new faces joining season two of Heated Rivalry
Tierney has signalled the new episodes will explore more serious territory than the first season.
A string of new faces has also joined the cast, including Schitt’s Creek star Emily Hampshire, Young Royals star Edvin Ryding, Canada’s Drag Race winner Priyanka and The Half of It‘s Daniel Diemer.
Earlier this year, Tierney promised there would be “more Heated Rivalry on your TVs, like, truly, as soon as humanly possible”, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
That means an Australian autumn 2027 premiere on HBO Max, so this book might be just the thing to tide you over.
Where to buy I’ll Believe in Anything in Australia
I’ll Believe in Anything: The Making of Heated Rivalry Season 1 (The Annotated Scripts) by Jacob Tierney is released on Tuesday, October 13. The Australian publisher for I'll Believe in Anything: The Making of Heated Rivalry Season 1 is Hachette Australia (under their Trapeze imprint). Pre-order it now from:
Hardback ($55)
Ebook ($24.99)
Heated Rivalry season one is streaming now on HBO Max.