New York [US], February 19: Look out, world! Heated Rivalry stars Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie have landed their next roles following their breakout turns on the Crave queer hockey drama that became a viral sensation after the show's premiere on HBO Max late last year.The Canadian-born Williams is teaming up with Crave once again. On Tuesday, the network revealed that the 25-year-old will star in its half-hour drama series Yaga, which focuses on the myth of Baba Yaga, a female character from Slavic folklore who is depicted as a witch.The series is an adaptation of a play by Kat Sandler, who will serve as writer and showrunner on the eight-episode series, and also features The Matrix star Carrie-Anne Moss, Noah Reid (Schitt's Creek), and Clark Backo (Letterkenny).Per the synopsis, the drama follows Rapp (Reid), a private investigator who arrives in a small coastal town to investigate the disappearance of a young heir to a powerful fishery, Henry Park (Williams). The investigator finds himself at odds with an apprehensive local detective, Carson (Backo); a charismatic university professor with a taste for younger men, Katherine (Moss); and "a labyrinth of enigmatic suspects, secret lives, and ancient magic."While Yaga is the first new role for Williams post-Heated Rivalry, the actor revealed in a November interview that he had recently booked a role on Netflix's upcoming limited series The Altruists. Written by Graham Moore, the series stars Julia Garner and Anthony Boyle, and tells the story of Sam Bankman-Fried and Caroline Ellison, two hyper-smart, ambitious young idealists who tried to remake the global financial system in the blink of an eye - and then seduced, coaxed, and teased each other into stealing $8 billion.Williams also shared that he was filming and directing three short films with plans to release sometime in the future.Storrie is heading back to his comedy roots with a role in A24's upcoming comedy Peaked.The Texan is in talks to join the star-studded cast, which includes Molly Gordon, Allie Levitan, Laura Dern, Simone Ashley, Levon Hawke, Mitra Jouhari, and Gabby Windey, according to Deadline. While Storrie's potential role hasn't been revealed, the film is set to begin production this month.Written by Levitan and Gordon, who will also direct, the film is said to follow "the two girls who traumatized you in high school as they try to relive their glory days at their 10-year reunion." A24 will finance the project and produce alongside David Hinojosa, Zach Nutman and Gordon, with Levitan executive-producing.The news of Storrie's potential role comes soon after it was announced the Joker: Folie a Deux actor will make his Saturday Night Live hosting debut on Feb. 28. He'll be joined by musical guest Mumford & Sons, who are old pros by now after three previous stints on the Studio 8H stage.No word yet on whether Williams is lined up for a cameo during his costar's debut, but SNL alum Jimmy Fallon has already vouched for him to host, so it wouldn't be a surprise if he did. Either way, seeing the pair together after their stint as torchbearers for the Olympic torch relay would be a sweet treat for Heated Rivalry fans who have a bit of a wait for the second season of the provocative Canadian drama.It's been a whirlwind for Williams and Storrie since Heated Rivalry premiered in November with the duo playing the star-crossed, puck-smashing Shane and Ilya, respectively, rival hockey players whose passion explodes into lust (and eventually love).The previously unknown actors found themselves mucking it up at the Golden Globes, being parodied on SNL, and more thanks to the fervent response from viewers. Fallon even told Entertainment Weekly that Williams' appearance on The Tonight Show resulted in "one of the hottest audiences we've ever had."Season 2 will adapt author Rachel Reid's The Long Game, the sixth book in Reid's ever-expanding Game Changers series. The Long Game picks up roughly three years after the events of Heated Rivalry and finds Shane and Ilya still dating in secret. Between Ilya's wavering mental health and Shane's intensified anxiety about being discovered, the pair struggle to contend with longing for family and belonging, as well as the fear of losing everything."It's time for them to decide what's most important - hockey or love," reads a synopsis.A season 2 premiere date has yet to be announced, but creator Jacob Tierney told EW in December that he doesn't plan for the wait to exceed 18 months."It will not be same time next year, but it'll be pretty soon after that," he said. "It's not gonna be two years. It's not even gonna be 18 months, I don't think. So we're gonna go as fast as we can, while ensuring that we're doing as good a job as we possibly can."A safe bet, based on these remarks, is a spring 2027 release.Source: Fijian Broadcasting Corporation
