- Title: 'Heated Rivalry' showcases gay love in hockey while avoiding 'trauma' tropes
- Date: 25th February 2026
- Summary: TORONTO, CANADA (FEBRUARY 24, 2026) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTOR KSENIA DANIELA KHARLAMOVA, ON HER CHARACTER “SVETLANA” SAYING: “So, Svetlana is Ilya’s best friend. They grew up together. They're childhood friends. They know each other super, super well. And she kind of is like a, emotional backbone for him because he doesn't have a lot of close people in his life
- Embargoed:
- Keywords: Canada Connor Storrie Heated Rivalry Hudson Williams Ksenia Daniela Kharlamova LGBTQ+
- Location: VARIOUS
- City: VARIOUS
- Country: UK
- Topics: Arts/Culture/Entertainment,Europe,Television
- Reuters ID: LVA002817424022026RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Canadian actor Ksenia Daniela Kharlamova, on Tuesday (February 24), credited part of the success of the hit show “Heated Rivalry”, is the absence of “trauma.”
“We don't see scenes of them getting, like beat up by people. We don't see scenes of real painful stuff, Kharlamova said in an interview with Reuters. “We see them emotional and going through things between the two of them. But we don't ever see, very painful things that I think are in a lot of other LGBTQ media.”
She added, “There's often similar themes of trauma in projects where it's just about Asian characters or just about Black characters. And I think it gets exhausting because you don't always want to see trauma.”
The hit Canadian television show, which is based on the second instalment of Rachel Reid’s book series “Game Changers”. It tells the story of elite hockey rivals, Ilya Rozanov (played by Connor Storrie) and Shane Hollander (played by Hudson Williams), who are the biggest stars in the Major Hockey League. The two battle each other on the ice and fall in love in secret.
The show has become a cultural phenomenon, with entertainment website Variety, reporting earlier this month that the Crave-produced show had “reached an average of 10.6 million viewers per episode in the U.S. according to Warner Bros. Discovery.” According to Variety “the finale, which was released on December 26, saw an increase of more than 300% compared to the premiere week audience.”
The 24-year-old, also praised the show for the opportunity to represent her Russian ethnicity. "I'm half black... It's a mix you don't often see."
When asked why people are surprised that women enjoy the show so much, Kharlamova said, "It’s just natural, if you see two attractive people and they're doing their thing on screen. You're going to enjoy that or you're going to find that intriguing.”
She added, “I know that a lot of queer books, specifically like “Heated Rivalry”, are enjoyed by women a lot.”
On Tuesday (February 24), Reid announced on Instagram that “Unrivalled”, the seventh book in the “Game Changers” series and third part of Ilya and Shane’s love story, had been pushed back from its original release date of September 29, 2026 to June 1, 2027 due to the success of the show and worsening of her Parkinson’s disease.
“Heated Rivalry” is currently streaming on HBO Max in the United States and Sky and NOW TV in the United Kingdom.
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