In Heated Rivalry, Storrie and Williams’ characters are pro hockey players who’ve spent years hating each other on the ice while secretly falling for one another off it. Part of the queer romance show’s appeal comes from its hockey backdrop, which evokes the real-world NHL rivalries of generational talents like Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Alexander Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals, but gives them a classic enemies-to-lovers arc.
The show is based on Rachel Reid’s Game Changers books and has become a real cultural moment, with fans making various “Stranger what…?” jokes online as the series gained popularity amid Netflix’s final Stranger Things rollout.
Williams also credits social media users with whipping up the show’s success during its early episodes.
“I heard a statistic that between week one and week two, there was, I think, a 600 per cent increase in viewers,” he told Harper’s Bazaar. “And I really think the TikTok editors, especially, were on one. I don’t know how old those people are, or who taught them how to edit that well, but it’s so impressive. They’re free trailer editors and doing it on their own dime. I am very grateful, because a lot of times I’ll see an edit or, like a Tweet, and it’ll make me fall in love with a different part of the show that I overlooked.”
