Heated Rivalry Season 2 casts Justice Smith and Charlie Gillespie

tvAug 7, 202632296

Heated Rivalry booked Justice Smith and Charlie Gillespie as Harris Drover and Troy Barrett for Season 2, which is slated to premiere in Spring 2027 and is currently in production. Gillespie will play Troy Barrett, a traded Ottawa Centaurs forward carrying controversy after severing ties with a former teammate accused of sexual assault, a plotline the show will use to examine toxic locker-room culture. Smith will play Harris Drover, Ottawa’s bright, unapologetic social media manager who in the source material makes it his mission to thaw Troy’s guarded exterior; the casting piece links Harris’s arc to Rachel Reid’s fifth Game Changers novel, Role Model. Showrunner Jacob Tierney plans a dual-storyline structure that keeps returning leads Hudson Williams (Shane Hollander) and Connor Storrie (Ilya Rozanov) while adding the new Harris/Troy romance alongside Shane and Ilya’s ongoing domestic and professional challenges. Coverage frames the pairing as a tonal shift toward heavier, more grounded topics while preserving the sports-romance balance that defined Season 1. A number of social posts specifically criticized the choice to cast Smith for a character described in the books as larger-bodied, while other posts celebrated the new chemistry and the addition of two prominent young leads.

Heated Rivalry News

@hrnews.bsky.social

“New season. New faces. Justice Smith and Charlie Gillespie join the cast of the Crave Original series #HeatedRivalry as Harris Drover and Troy Barrett. Season 2 starring Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie is coming to Crave in Spring 2027. 🏒 Stick around, we’re just getting started!” via crave

"From the start of the casting process, we knew we were looking for actors who could create something truly special together and bring that same depth and heart to the screen.
Justice and Charlie do exactly that.
They immediately connected with the vulnerability and resilience at the core of these characters, bringing an instinctive understanding of who Harris and Troy are."
-Jacob Tierney and Brendan Brady

1125h ago

Quoting this

Harriet - Pumpkin Spite15

Justice Smith! THAT'S MY BOY!!!!!

Michelle, LiveJournal Stuff10

Well, so much for some fat representation with Harris, or even just a non-athletic-ideal body. No offense to this guy who is hot and I'm sure is a fantastic actor, but oof this was a huge miss.

daily hudson williams6

I did NAWT know that having Charlie as Troy Barrett was a possibility and I LOVE IT SO MUCH??????? It think he's gonna be GREAT portraying Troy!!! As for Justice, I haven't seen anything he's in but he looks sweet and pretty and I trust Jacob, so I'm sure he's gonna be great as well. Can't wait❤️

Ves 5

Justice Smith has been excellent since The Get Down! not sure I saw him as Harris, but I'm intrigued

ninergrl62

My mantra: I trust Jacob. I trust Jacob. I trust Jacob. *deep breath*

novinho de 35 anos2

amo que o único personagem que é minimamente gordo nos livros não vai ser gordo 😍

FalconWizard

@falconwizard.bsky.social

I'm glad everyone on the internet is being very normal about Heated Rivalry castings today.

174h ago

itsonlyzach

@itsonlyzach.bsky.social

Looking forward to the extremely normal reactions fans will have to the casting of additional characters in the Heated Rivalry universe.

113h ago

TVLine

@tvline.bsky.social

A new it couple is about to enter the rink: Heated Rivalry has cast Justice Smith and Charlie Gillespie as Harris Drover and Troy Barrett for Season 2.

74h ago

Quoting this

Penguin2026™️3

@chickgonebad.bsky.social @cmr2.bsky.social @thekevina.bsky.social Here you go homos

tedward

@tedwardtv.bsky.social

but also we up julie and the phantom fans because charlie as troy 🥹🥹🥹 #heatedrivalry

95h ago

Alonso Duralde

@aduralde.bsky.social

I was hoping Heated Rivalry S2 would give us Role Model and The Long Game, and it looks like that's what they're doing. Harris in the novel is portrayed as bearded and bearish, but Justice Smith is a terrific actor, so I look forward to seeing his interpretation of the character. #tvsky 📺

104h ago

breakfast burrito enthusiast

@icanbarelyswim.bsky.social

heated rivalry Harris casting announced I just fell to my knees

94h ago

Alexis Boucher

@alexisb82.bsky.social

Thrilled to see another actor of color joining the Heated Rivalry cast. Not thrilled that he was cast to play a canonically larger bodied character in the books when he is thin. It says a lot that a show that’s so inclusive in other ways is choosing this as where the line stops says a lot.

74h ago

Heather

@alainnfocail.bsky.social

Goddamnit, they cast a thin actor (Justice Smith) to play a canonically fat character in Season 2 of Heated Rivalry. A character whose fatness is important to the story. They are likely swapping out “fat” with “Black” for storytelling purposes and THE TWO ARE NOT B INTERCHANGEABLE.

84h ago

Heather3

I have zero issue WHATSOEVER with a Black man playing this character. But they should have been Black AND fat, not Black OR fat. And I love Justice Smith. There are plenty of other rolls I would have loved to see him play. Basically any of them except for this specific character.

kristy yummy coochie 🇯🇲

@adrierising.bsky.social

i'm sure justice smith is great but harris drover is canonically a fat, gay man. it's a critical aspect of his identity and his relationship with troy. are you telling me there were no fat, black, gay men available? i'm incredibly irritated by this casting choice for season 2 of heated rivalry.

82h ago

Dennis A.

@dharmadog.bsky.social

#RachelReid #HeatedRivalry #Unrivaled Rachel Reid via Instagram: "I hope you guys like Ilya and Shane…" I guess she has finished her third Ilya and Shane book "Unrivaled." 🔥🏒💞🏳️‍🌈

Photo of a stack of papers, such as a manuscript, on a table with a ballpoint pen resting on top posted by "Heated Rivalry" author Rachel Reid on Instagram.

823h ago

Heated Rivalry

@heatedrivalry56.bsky.social

Hudson talking about how he turns to Connor for support when the sudden fame and noise are a lot. Love these two have each other! #HeatedRivalry #CompetitiveSpirit #RivalrySeason

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