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Two new leading cast members have been announced for season two of Crave’s blockbuster hockey drama Heated Rivalry.
Canadian actor Daniel Diemer, known for playing Tyson on the television show Percy Jackson and the Olympians, will star as hockey player Ryan Price.
Welsh actor Shaheen Jafargholi will play his love interest, musician Fabian Salah. Jafargholi is known for his role in the HBO series War.
The characters Ryan and Fabian are the protagonists of the third novel in Rachel Reid’s bestselling Game Changer hockey romance series.
Tough Guy tells the story of pro hockey enforcer Ryan Price. When he’s traded to the Toronto team, he’s excited to experience the city’s gay village. While exploring, Ryan runs into Fabian, an aspiring musician with whom he shared an almost-kiss in high school. Despite the years that have passed, their chemistry is undeniable. But a future together might mean Ryan has to give up hockey for good.
“Fabian and Ryan each bring a distinctive energy to the world Rachel Reid has created,” said writer Jacob Tierney and producer Brendan Brady in a press statement.
“They are bold, complicated and deeply compelling characters, and finding actors who could really take on all of those different sides was so important to us. Daniel and Shaheen bring such confidence and emotional honesty to the roles. We can’t wait for audiences to see what they do with Fabian and Ryan and how they make these characters their own.”
Season one of the show adapted books one and two of Reid’s series, Game Changer and Heated Rivalry.
Crave has said season two of Heated Rivalry will continue to follow the story of hockey rivals-turned-lovers Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov from Reid’s novel The Long Game.
Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie are to reprise their starring roles in the TV adaptation.
The show will also incorporate the stories of Troy Barrett, a hockey player traded to Ilya’s new team, and Harris Dover, a social media manager, from the fifth novel of the series, Role Model, in the upcoming second season.
Crave announced Justice Smith was cast as Harris and the Julie and the Phantoms
