Heated Rivalry is meeting its casting goals.
Season 2 of the hockey romance series has found its Ryan Price and Fabian Salah, the two leads in author Rachel Reid’s third book in the Game Changers series, Tough Guy.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians star Daniel Diemer will play Ryan, a retired enforcer for the Toronto Guardians hockey team. Shaheen Jafargholi will play Fabian, an indie musician and Ryan’s love interest.
“Fabian and Ryan each bring a distinctive energy to the world Rachel Reid has created,” show creator Jacob Tierney and executive producer Brendan Brady say in a statement. “They are bold, complicated, and deeply compelling characters, and finding actors who could really take on all of those different sides was so important to us.”
“Daniel and Shaheen bring such confidence and emotional honesty to the roles,” they add. “We can’t wait for audiences to see what they do with Fabian and Ryan and how they make these characters their own.”
Ryan and Fabian’s story intersects with the main story of hockey rivals to lovers Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie) and Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams).
Previously announced casting included Emily Hampshire as Vanessa and Priyanka as Tarek, two friends of Fabian’s. Other casting for season 2 includes Justice Smith and Charlie Gillespie as Harris Drover and Troy Barrett, and Edvin Ryding as Luca Haas.
Season 2 is set to premiere in spring of 2027 on HBO Max in the U.S.
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