Jack Innanen says he has had conversations with the team behind Heated Rivalry, but he stopped short of saying whether those talks had landed him a role. The actor, whose name fans have been attaching to the 2025 hockey drama for months, said only that he was available and ready to skate into the series if called.
“I’d be the perfect [fit] because I am down for anything – and I played hockey!” Innanen said, adding that he has been getting in reps with “mini sticks” and working on his stick handling and hip mobility. “I’ve had some conversations,” he said, but declined to go any further on whether those discussions meant he was already part of the project.
The chatter around jack innanen has built since Heated Rivalry was renewed for a second season, with fans pointing him toward roles introduced later in Rachel Reid’s Game Changers novels, especially Wyatt Hayes and Troy Barrett. The series debuted in 2025 on Crave in Canada and Sky in the UK, and follows professional ice hockey players Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov as a long-running rivalry turns into a secret relationship. Its next season is expected to draw from The Long Game.
Read Also: Jacob Tierney says Heated Rivalry season 2 may not finish The Long Game
Innanen has been feeding the speculation for a while. He previously posted on Instagram Story, “Folks, I have seen the stuff on Twitter. ‘Oh, Wyatt Hayes! Troy Barrett! Oh!’ Jacob Tiernay, I’m available for that second season. Just puttin’ that out there,” then later joked, “The rumours are true… I’m in the second season of Heated Rivalry!” He also said his character would not be romantically involved with either of the two main characters.
For now, the pitch seems obvious enough. Innanen is best known for playing Paul Baker in Adults, which has been renewed for a second season, and he is also set to star with Dan Levy in Big Mistakes, due to premiere on 9 April. He says he knows his way around a puck. The unanswered question is whether Heated Rivalry wants him on the ice for real.
