Critics Choice honours Heated Rivalry as Jacob Tierney works hard on Season 2 scripts

• Jacob Tierney accepted the Critics Choice Showrunner Award via pre-recorded video on Friday
• He apologised for his absence, citing his work on Heated Rivalry Season 2 as the reason
• Season 2 will be based on Rachel Reid's novel The Long Game, the second book in her series
  

As Heated Rivalry continues to accumulate awards recognition for its first season, showrunner Jacob Tierney is deep in the process of crafting the sophomore instalment of the hit series.

A remote acceptance at the Critics Choice celebration

During Friday's 3rd Critics Choice Celebration of LGBTQ+ Cinema & Television in Los Angeles, Tierney accepted the Showrunner Award via a pre-recorded video message, unable to attend the ceremony in person due to his commitments to Season 2 of the Crave and HBO Max series.

"Thank you so much to the Critics Choice Association for this amazing and unexpected honor," Tierney said in his acceptance speech.

"I'm so, so grateful, and I'm so sorry that I cannot be there to celebrate with all of you in person and accept this. I'm working very hard on Season 2 to get it out to people as soon as possible. I genuinely wish I could be there. I'm so moved by this."

In his speech, Tierney also took the opportunity to thank his producing partner Brendan Brady, the literary source material's author Rachel Reid, and the show's cast and crew.

What Season 2 will cover

Following Heated Rivalry's renewal for a second season, Tierney confirmed to Deadline that the new series will be based on The Long Game, the only other existing book in Rachel Reid's series centred on the characters of Ilya and Shane. Reid's next novel, Unrivalled, which continues their story, is due for release on 29 September.

The Long Game picks up a decade into the relationship between Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) and Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie), a relationship the pair have kept hidden from the public.

The central tension of the story sees Ilya keen to come out openly as a couple, whilst Shane remains reluctant to do so, believing that keeping things private is essential to maintaining his performance at the top of his game.

Filming on Season 2 is expected to begin in August, once Tierney has completed writing all of the episodes.