Heated Rivalry was an overnight hit. Its creators and network worked overtime to make that happen

Once it became an instant hit, Heated Rivalry’s success may have seemed preordained. Based on a popular series of romance novels by Rachel Reid about romances between interconnected male hockey players, the show debuted in November 2025 and has become Canadian streamer Crave’s best-performing original show, driving more sign-ups than anything else in 2025 to the streamer (owned by Canadian media conglomerate Bell Media). It was also a hit for international partners that include HBO Max in the U.S., where viewers had watched each episode more than 10 million times by February 2026. But getting the project off the ground was a struggle for executive producers Jacob Tierney and Brendan Brady, who produced it through their company, Accent Aigu Entertainment. Crave’s green light included some initial funding, but the showrunners still needed to find additional backing, asking potential partners to take a risk on an often explicitly sexual gay romance. I spoke to Brendan Brady, executive producer of Heated Rivalry. This is the story of how Heated Rivalry went from pitch to production to global blockbuster—all in only 18 months. [Illustration: Janne Iivonen] As Accent Aigu approached pos…