As Heated Rivalry continues to collect awards for its first season, Jacob Tierney is hard at work on Season 2 of the hit show.

During Friday’s 3rd Critics Choice Celebration of LGBTQ+ Cinema & Television in Los Angeles, Tierney gave an update on the sophomore season of the Crave/HBO Max series as he accepted the Showrunner Award remotely via video.

“Thank you so much to the Critics Choice Association for this amazing and unexpected honor,” said Tierney in the pre-recorded 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 went on to thank his producing partner Brendan Brady and the literary source material’s author Rachel Reid, as well as the cast and crew.

After Heated Rivalry was renewed for Season 2, creator Tierney told Deadline that it will be based on The Long Game, the only other current book in Rachel Reid’s series that focuses on Ilya and Shane (her next book Unrivaled resumes the story on Sept. 29).

'Heated Rivalry's Jacob Tierney accepts the Showrunner Award via a pre-recorded video at the 3rd Critics Choice Celebration Of LGBTQ+ Cinema & Television, while hard at work on Season 2 pic.twitter.com/cixyTdBOPO

— Deadline (@DEADLINE) May 30, 2026

The Long Game picks back up with Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) and Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie) 10 years into their relationship, which they’ve kept a secret. Ilya wants to go public, but Shane feels that they should keep it under wraps to stay at the top of his game.

Film is expected to begin on Season 2 in August, after Tierney has completed writing the episodes.

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