Heated Rivalry Season 2 Casting: Edvin Ryding, Emily Hampshire, and More Join

The Heated Rivalry Season 2 casting announcements just keep coming, and we are very quickly running out of ways to contain our excitement. Last week, Crave introduced us to Justice Smith and Charlie Gillespie as Harris Drover and Troy Barrett, and now we have five more names joining the ever-expanding universe of Rachel Reid’s Game Changers TV universe.

Crave has announced that Emily Hampshire (Schitt’s Creek, Marvel’s VisionQuest) will play Vanessa, Edvin Ryding (Young Royals, 28 Years Later) will play Luca Haas, Robert Naylor (Mile End Kicks, Cardinal) will play Wyatt Hayes, Sabrina Jalees (I Used to Be Funny, Black Mirror) will play Farah Jalali, and Priyanka (Drag Brunch Saved My Life, Meet Me Next Christmas) will play Tarek.

And if you’ve been around Q+ for a while, you already know that we’re going to have a few things to say about Edvin Ryding joining this cast. We are BIG fans of Young Royals, and we’ve even had the pleasure of meeting and interviewing Edvin in the past. So yes, maybe we’re a little biased, but we are absolutely over the moon about seeing him step into the Heated Rivalry universe as Luca Haas. He’s one of the good ones out there, and we genuinely can’t wait to see what he brings to this role.

We have no doubt that Edvin is going to kill it as Luca, a Swiss hockey player and rookie right winger for the Ottawa Centaurs—and we really hope the production has managed to secure the use of the Centaurs’ actual name because, respectfully, we don’t want to call them anything else. But anygays, Luca is the youngest player on the team when The Long Game (Book #6) takes place, and he’s shy, self-critical, and carrying a pretty serious fanboy crush on his captain, Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie). Ilya takes the young rookie under his wing, giving us another relationship that helps show how much our favorite Russian superstar has grown since the early days of his captaincy in Boston. We can’t wait to see Edvin and Connor play that dynamic.

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And speaking of the Ottawa Centaurs, our roster is already starting to take shape. We have our captain Ilya, our forward Troy (Gillespie), our rookie right winger Luca, and now we finally have our goaltender.

Robert Naylor has been cast as Wyatt Hayes, the starting goalie for the Centaurs and another familiar face for readers of the Game Changers books. Wyatt has a history with both Troy and Ryan Price (one half of the main couple in Tough Guy, Book #3 of the Game Changers series) from his time with the Toronto Guardians before eventually joining Ottawa, and he becomes another important member of Ilya’s circle. Alongside Troy, he is one of the friends who helps make Ilya’s world beyond Shane feel much bigger in The Long Game.

He’s also a vocal queer ally and a comic book fan, because apparently we needed another reason to immediately love this man. With Troy, Luca, Wyatt, and Ilya now officially part of the Centaurs’ Season 2 lineup, we’re starting to get a much clearer picture of the hockey world around our favorite Russian superstar.

And well, for non-book readers, you’re going to want to pay attention to the next casting announcements since you may not be as familiar with these characters as you are with the others (they don’t get featured in fanfics nearly as much). Sabrina Jalees will play Farah Jalali, Shane’s (Hudson Williams) agent who eventually becomes Ilya’s agent as well. In other words, yes, we are getting the Hollanov agent. Farah is another one of those characters who helps our favorite hockey players in times of need, so we’re very curious to see how the series introduces her and how much of her relationship with both Shane and Ilya we get to explore.

Then there are Vanessa and Tarek, played by Emily Hampshire and Priyanka, respectively. For readers of the books, these two names might make you raise an eyebrow because they are connected to Fabian, the other half of the main couple in Tough Guy. We’re obviously not going to wander into spoiler territory here, but their casting does make us wonder whether Fabian and Ryan might be the next names we hear from the wider Game Changers universe.

And honestly, that’s one of the most exciting things about these announcements. Season 2 isn’t simply adding a handful of new faces around Shane and Ilya. Casting announcement by casting announcement, the series is filling in the world around them and bringing more of the interconnected stories from Rachel Reid’s books to life.

Last week gave us Harris (Smith) and Troy. This week gave us Luca, Wyatt, Farah, Vanessa, and Tarek. If Crave keeps this up, we’re going to need a spreadsheet just to keep track of everyone joining the Heated Rivalry universe.

We’re obviously still a little ways from seeing any of this on our screens, with Season 2 set to premiere in Spring 2027, but we have to admit: watching this cast come together is making the wait a little more exciting.

So, what do you think? Are you excited about the latest Heated Rivalry Season 2 casting announcements? And, more importantly, which Game Changers character are you hoping Crave announces next?

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Season 1 of Heated Rivalry is available to stream on Crave (Canada), HBO Max (U.S. & Other Regions), Sky (New Zealand, UK), and Movistar Plus+ (Spain). Follow us on X and Instagram for all queer stuff!

Featured Image: Image Courtesy of Crave and HBO Max.