[This story contains major spoilers from episode four of Heated Rivalry. ]
As streams of t.A.T.u.’s “All The Things She Said” likely jump after Heated Rivalry’s fourth episode, fans of the series are anxiously waiting to see just where the show’s protagonists Shane (Hudson Williams) and Ilya (Connor Storrie) stand.
After years of casual hookups whenever the other hockey player is in town or the All Star weekend finds them together, Shane and Ilya are confronted with the reality that things just might be getting real. When the pair spend what feels more like a domesticated day at Ilya’s house rather than the quick affairs they’re used to, Shane bolts.
The Canadian hockey player finds himself in a relationship with actress Rose Landry (Sophie Nélisse), and Shane and Ilya’s not-quite-relationship becomes even more complicated. The show’s big moment takes place at a Montreal night club, set to “All The Things She Said,” where the pair leave without saying a word.
Below, Williams and Storrie speak with The Hollywood Reporter about the reaction of the series, why their characters needed that devastating ending and what they hope viewers take away from the show.
I’m not sure if either of you saw the reaction to the show coming, but how are you setting boundaries for yourself in this new reality?
STORRIE Personally, I just limit my amount of time online. Luckily, we’ve been super busy with press and all sorts of meetings and talks and this and that, so I haven’t had too much time to really delve into the online response. It’s super enticing and super easy to fall into a trap of wanting to know what everyone’s saying about you.
WILLIAMS I used to tell people when it was sort of addicting and I would want to kind of scroll, that it’s like people are having a conversation about you in the living room. Someone tells you that, and you’re in your bedroom. You can go listen, but you don’t have to. Most people are going to be like, “What the hell are they saying?” And go around the corner.
STORRIE I want to know what situation this is where someone’s, like, talking about you in the living room. (Laughs.)
WILLIAMS (Laughs.) It’s a very hypothetical situation, but then again [it’s] that situation [but] they don’t even know you. If you turn your phone off, it all disappears and then you’re just home alone drinking a coffee, tired, bad hair, acne.
STORRIE Not in the living room where they are.
WILLIAMS None of it really exists unless you’re on it.
In terms of where the show is at in episode four, it’s a big turning point in the story. One thing Jacob [Tierney, showrunner] has emphasized is that sex is how these two people communicate. But I think this is where they’re starting to realize they have to learn how to communicate outside of that. Where do you see that shift in them, and how did you tackle that?
STORRIE The shift I think happens between them and then we see the ricochet effect of how that fragments and affects them both differently. I don’t know about you [Hudson], but I didn’t pre-plan a lot of stuff. I just remember doing the tuna melt scene after that. All I have to do is look at him and feed into his reality and what happens after the tuna melt scene. Be present and affected by that and then it just kind of leads into everything else.
WILLIAMS You can read an arc, but you can’t really play one, so you can’t really manipulate one too much. We read the script, I read the book, I reread the script multiple times. I just had to trust that sort of imbued in the performance. Being in that moment, I remember the tuna melt scene and where that goes. I do remember that it was a disgusting feeling every time I’d leave, I just felt gross in my stomach. I just want to cry.
STORRIE You can’t plan for it. You just have to be so prepped in your person and the story as a whole that when it’s at go time for that, you’re ready for it.
It seems you guys have gotten quite close with each other, how do you then shift out of that when you’re leaving the day?
STORRIE You don’t. I feel heartbroken forever.
WILLIAMS Then we don’t speak.
STORRIE We’re always heartbroken.
WILLIAMS I think we had a bit of levity. [Connor] had the accent that [he] could kind of drop, and then I’m like, oh, I’m with Connor now. Shane feels like quite a departure even though it’s not an accent. It feels like I can kind of leave that. But then when you revisit it, it feels like it’s all there. It’s almost like a children’s game when you play dress up. It’s like as soon as you come back to this imaginary world, it’s just as alive.
It’s a beat that every romance story has — things have to get bad a bit before they can get good. As the two people who are portraying these characters, why do you think that needs to happen?
STORRIE Yearning. We love to yearn.
WILLIAMS There’s this sellable aspect [where] you’re more connected to it when there’s the yearning. But also it feels real. I don’t know too many stories where there’s not a push and pull.
STORRIE Totally.
WILLIAMS It feels reminiscent of my friends who have romances, stories I hear of parents who have fallen in love. It’s a lot of bad happens. It’s not just that we liked each other. We started having sex. Then we just boom, boom, boom, now we’re happily married.
STORRIE This story specifically, I think it just solidifies [Shane]. Being genuinely connected to one person like Rose, I think solidifies [Shane] contextually. Sometimes finding out what you do want is finding out what you don’t want. Maybe that’s why that’s a plot point in a lot of these types of stories.
WILLIAMS Especially in a queer story where Rose sort of represents the image, the standards.
In the book, there was always this idea that Ilya was the one who fell first. I think from your portrayal of Shane, Hudson, that kind of shifted. There’s been a very large debate on the internet.
WILLIAMS Right, I’ve seen this. I feel that if Ilya fell [because of] those freckles in the first meeting… It’s the locker room, I think, when Shane falls. He’s already falling before he says [his room number]. He’s already kind of there. I think when he goes up to Ilya and walks — we cut it in the [show] — but he walks quite a ways just to go see Ilya, to go up to him.
STORRIE That first meeting you mean?
WILLIAMS The first meeting. There’s an attraction there, and shortly after it turns into more.
STORRIE The part that always stuck out to me [as when] Ilya really saw Shane for the first time and really liked him was actually — and the way that Jacob [Tierney] did it was so fricking good — when they’re texting in the locker room. I think this is in episode one or two. [Ilya asks,] “How many times can you come in an hour?” Then Shane earnestly responds, “I don’t know, twice maybe.” I think that is just plain and simple the reason why Ilya likes Shane. [It’s] because that’s so the opposite of Ilya. He would never be straightforward and honest. He would never be vulnerable in that almost ignorant way. That’s the moment for me. I think it also comes down to a cultural difference of Eastern Europeans or cultures outside of the West. They may not be as nice to you upfront, but when you’re their friend, you’re their family for life. They’ll die for you. I think that’s a difference of their love at the beginning. When I’m in, I’m in. Whereas Shane is in, kind of, sort of.
WILLIAMS Terrified by it. But I will say, whether it’s a departure from the book or not, with all due respect to Rachel [Reid]’s book as well, I think I play Shane [as] he’s sort of in love right away and then never stops being in love. He makes other choices that might not look like that, but I think they’re all kind of driven through how much intense love he feels for Ilya, and I stand by that.
What’re you hoping people take away from the series?
WILLIAMS Love.
STORRIE I just hope that people — no matter what you think you need to be in life or what is expected of you — just be yourself. Even if that breaks some sort of boundary, even if there’s not a word for it, even if there’s not space for that in whatever realm you live in. Just be that.
WILLIAMS Fight for yourself like your best friend, and don’t be ashamed of anything that exists within yourself.
STORRIE Even your family [or] your friends, even if it goes against what they want and think of you —
WILLIAMS Own it.
Heated Rivalry is currently streaming on HBO Max in the U.S., airing new episodes every Friday.
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