'Heated Rivalry' season 2 casts Daniel Diemer and Shaheen Jafargholi as Ryan and Fabian

Heated Rivalry season 2 has added two major new cast members, with Daniel Diemer and Shaheen Jafargholi joining the hit hockey romance series as fan-favourite characters Ryan Price and Fabian Salah.

Diemer, known for Percy Jackson and the Olympians and The Half of It, will play Ryan, a retired enforcer and defenceman for the Toronto Guardians. Jafargholi, who has appeared in The Agency and War, will portray Fabian, Ryan's boyfriend and a popular indie musician in Toronto.

The characters come from Rachel Reid's Game Changers book series, with Ryan and Fabian serving as the central couple in Tough Guy, the third novel in the series. Their relationship also continues into The Long Game, which is expected to provide some of the source material for the second season of Heated Rivalry.

In the television adaptation, Ryan is expected to become involved with a summer hockey camp established by Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov. The couple, played by Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie, are navigating a very different stage of their relationship in season 2 as they attempt to build a life together while continuing to deal with the pressures surrounding their careers and public identities.

Ryan's connection to Shane and Ilya is particularly significant because the summer camp gives the three hockey players a reason to spend time together away from the professional rink. The storyline also opens the door for Ryan and Fabian's romance to become part of the wider world that Shane and Ilya are building.

Series creator Jacob Tierney and executive producer Brendan Brady praised the new additions, saying Ryan and Fabian are "bold, complicated, and deeply compelling characters" and that Diemer and Jafargholi bring "confidence and emotional honesty" to the roles.

The casting also expands an already growing season 2 ensemble. Charlie Gillespie has joined the series as Troy Barrett, while Justice Smith will play Harris Drover. Edvin Ryding has been cast as Luca Haas, Robert Naylor as Wyatt Hayes and Sabrina Jalees as Shane and Ilya's agent Farah Jalali. Emily Hampshire will also appear as Vanessa, a friend of Ryan and Fabian who works at a Toronto sex shop and runs a sex-toy review blog.

The new characters are part of a larger story that will shift the focus of Heated Rivalry beyond the secrecy and intensity of Shane and Ilya's early romance. Tierney has previously described season 2 as exploring what happens after the initial rush of danger has passed and the couple has to learn how to communicate and sustain a relationship as adults.

The casting of Diemer and Jafargholi also confirms that the series is continuing to expand Reid's wider Game Changers universe rather than focusing exclusively on its original central couple. With Ryan and Fabian now officially part of the adaptation, fans of Tough Guy will get to see another of Reid's romances brought to the screen.

Heated Rivalry season 2 is scheduled to premiere in spring 2027 on HBO Max, with the series also streaming on Crave in Canada.