Suffering from Heated Rivalry withdrawal? On your fourth re-watch with no end in sight? Gather round, there's an update.

As you're definitely well aware, the show is coming back for a second season—presumably focused on The Long Game, Rachel Reid's second book about Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov. But there's a chance that creators could, maybe, drop a special episode between seasons.

heated rivalry (l to r) connor storrie as ilya rozanov and hudson williams as shane hollander in episode 104 of heated rivalry. cr. sabrina lantos © 2025
Sabrina Lantos//HBO

Justin Stockman, an executive at Bell Media (the company that owns Crave, who made Heated Rivalry) just gave an interview about the show and said he'd love to do a standalone episode.

"We’re going to see what’s feasible," he told Toronto Star (via Just Jared), noting that it all depends on creator Jacob Tierney. "If [Jacob] can find a way to make the source material work in a way that gets us something sooner or something special, I’m sure he will. I would love to have this back for the holidays next year, but that likely is not going to happen. We can’t rush the process. We won’t be able to repeat the magic if we push him."

So...what would a potential Heated Rivalry special be based on? There are plenty of books in the Game Changers series to choose from, and the episode could function in the same way that Scott and Kip's story did in Season 1.

Meanwhile, Jacob chatted about writing Season 2, saying "This isn’t what any of us expected and I’m endlessly grateful for it. But it’s the kind of noise that I have to drown out to make the next two seasons. I have to keep trusting myself. I have to keep doing what I did in the first place. That’s the way you’re going to get a good season two. It’s important for me to go back to what I love about this and remember the story I’m telling."