‘Heated Rivalry’ Season 2 Cast Update: Who Hasn’t Been Confirmed to Return?
Heated Rivalry hasn’t just announced its new cast members for Season 2 — fans now know all the OG actors set to bring their characters back, too. Following the reveal of that list, many viewers pointed out that notable names from Season 1 are missing. One of them even plays half of a main couple in Rachel Reid’s book series.
Though Season 1 is mostly centered around Shane (Hudson Williams) and Ilya (Connor Storrie), quite a few people enter their orbits during their decade-long situationship and eventual full-on relationship, including fellow professional hockey players and teammates. In focusing an episode on Scott (François Arnaud) and Kip (Robbie G.K.), even more characters were added to the mix in Season 1, which covers Reid’s Heated Rivalry book in its entirety and parts of Game Changer.
Unless another announcement of returning characters is coming, not all of them appear to be returning for Season 2, which will be primarily based on Shane and Ilya’s The Long Game sequel with elements from Reid’s Role Model. Keep reading for all the status updates on the Season 1 cast members who haven’t been confirmed (as of now) to reprise their roles as the show universe expands.
Matthew Finlan as Kyle Swift
One of the more shocking cast members not to be included in the returning list is Matthew Finlan. Kyle has a blink-and-you-miss it appearance in Season 1 — he is Kip’s friend and bartender at the Kingfisher in Episode 3 — but he eventually becomes the lead of a Game Changers book.
In Reid’s Common Goal, Kyle falls in love with Scott’s teammate, almost-retired New York Admirals goaltender Eric Bennett. Since the leads of Reid’s Role Model and Tough Guy have been confirmed to appear in Season 2, it seemed like the Common Goal leads would, too, despite not playing a major part in The Long Game. Kyle and Eric only appear briefly when Ilya visits the Kingfisher after a game in New York. The outing is only mentioned in passing in The Long Game, but it does play out in full in Role Model, since Troy goes with Ilya and the books have overlapping timelines. However, Finlan’s absence from the list and no Eric casting announcement leaves their adaptation fate murky.
On September 2, Finlan was announced as a new addition to Netflix’s Finding Her Edge Season 2, which is currently in production at the same time as Heated Rivalry. However, he re-shared ET’s returning cast members post, which included a graphic of Common Goal’s cover and his portrait, to his Instagram Story on the same day. Long story short, Kyle’s future is anyone’s guess.
Franco Lo Presti as Cliff Marleau
This one comes as a slight surprise, too, since Cliff does appear in The Long Game, albeit in a tiny capacity. In Season 1, Franco Lo Presti plays Marleau, Ilya’s friend and teammate on the Boston Raiders. He’s the one who accidentally knocks out Shane on the ice in Episode 5, sending him to the hospital. In a way, fans have him to thank for Shane and Ilya finally going to the cottage and admitting their feelings for one another. But we digress!
Despite Ilya switching teams to play for the Ottawa Centaurs, Cliff does appear briefly in the sequel book. When Shane and Ilya are at an All-Star Game, Cliff knocks on Ilya’s hotel room door to get him to go out with them. Little does he know that Ilya and Shane are getting frisky behind the door. Ilya doesn’t stop what he’s doing, and Cliff assumes Ilya has a girl in there with him. The moment makes Shane realize he has a bit of an exhibition kink. Who knows, maybe Scott will replace Cliff if the scene makes it into Season 2.
On September 2, it was announced that Lo Presti would be joining the cast of Days of Our Lives.
Kolton Stewart as Carter Vaughan
In Season 1, Kolton Stewart plays Scott’s friendly New York Admirals teammate, Carter Vaughan. The character doesn’t appear physically in The Long Game, though he comes up in a conversation between Scott and Ilya. The former mentions that he and Carter are starting a group to fight against toxic hockey culture. It hasn’t been created yet by the end of the book, but it’s possible Carter will appear in Reid’s upcoming Unrivaled — and possibly a future season of the show — once the group gets going.
Nadine Bhabha as Elena Rygg
Kip’s best friend, Nadine Bhabha’s Elena, remains by Kip’s side as he navigates his secret relationship with Scott in Season 1. She’s the one to tell Scott that Kip deserves sunshine, playing an integral part in Scott’s later decision to go public with his relationship. Towards the end of the season, we see Elena watching the MLH Awards with Kip as Scott delivers a speech. That’s the last time she appears in Season 1. In Scott and Kip’s book, Game Changer, Elena moves to LA for her job, so it doesn’t come as a surprise that she may not be involved in Season 2.
Bianca Nugara as Maria Villanueva
Bianca Nugara’s Maria watches Scott flirt with her smoothie shop coworker, Kip, from behind the counter in Season 1’s Episode 3. It’s the same role she plays in Reid’s Game Changer. She goes on to have more to do in Common Goal, becoming Kyle’s roommate while she goes to a local community college. During Scott and Kip’s engagement party, Maria flirts with hockey player Matti Jalo, who plays for the New York Admirals, for the first time. Both in the merged friend group, Maria and Matti interact a few more times before they dance together at Scott and Kip’s wedding. However, all of this occurs in Common Goal, not The Long Game, since neither has a substantial connection to Shane and Ilya.
Kaden Connors as Sasha
Sasha, who’s played by Kaden Connors, appears as Ilya’s childhood friend and former hookup in Season 1’s Episode 2. He’s the son of Ilya’s former hockey coach, which lines up with the book. However, in a departure from the source material, Sasha isn’t merely mentioned in passing. He shows up physically and unsuccessfully tries to seduce Ilya, who has returned to Russia for the Sochi Olympics. It appears that’s where the book departures end when it comes to Sasha, who isn’t in Season 2. Ilya doesn’t return to Russia at any point in The Long Game, so it makes sense that Sasha likely won’t come back.
Slavic Rogozine as Alexei Rozanov
Based on where they leave things in Season 1’s Episode 5, it should come as no surprise that Ilya’s money-hungry, homophobic brother, Alexei (Slavic Rogozine), appears to not be returning for Season 2. Alexei insults Ilya at their father’s funeral, and Ilya cuts his brother off, giving him his Moscow apartment and setting up a trust for his niece before he leaves Russia. In The Long Game, Ilya hasn’t spoken to his brother since then, though he brings up their relationship (or lack of one) during his therapy sessions.
