Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams explain the improvised, emotional dialogue that capped the season with a “warm, fuzzy feeling.”
The first season of Heated Rivalry concluded with its two stars, Shane and Ilya, literally driving off into a golden sunset. As the credits rolled on the finale episode “The Cottage,” viewers saw the characters laughing and talking in the car, but no dialogue was heard over the soundtrack. Now, actors Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams have revealed exactly what was said in those final, intimate moments—and that the scene was largely improvised to capture a profound blurring of actor and character.
The finale, which premiered on December 26, 2025, delivered an emotional conclusion as Shane came out to his parents with Ilya by his side. After that intense family moment, the episode’s last shot shows the couple leaving Shane’s parents’ house, full of relief and joy. Series creator Jacob Tierney explained his goal was to leave the audience with the same “warm, fuzzy feeling” he experienced from the original books by Rachel Reid.
What Was Said in the Car
In interviews, the actors described filming the end-credit sequence. Director Jacob Tierney gave them a simple direction: to just “be Shane and Ilya after this drive”.
“That was all improv,” Hudson Williams (Shane) told Harper’s Bazaar. “Jacob said, ‘This is what ends our show. So just be Shane and Ilya after this drive.’ And it felt like there was an element of both Connor and Hudson mixed into Shane and Ilya”.
Williams recalled the specific, heartfelt exchanges that came from this improvisation.
“I think we said a lot of things like, ‘I can’t believe we’ve done this.’ I remember a lot of ‘I love you’s and ‘Wow—I can’t believe we’ve done it. I can’t believe this happened,’” he said.
The scene was filmed in one continuous take lasting the full three to four minutes of the song “Bad Things” by Cailin Russo. Connor Storrie (Ilya) revealed to Variety that the first take had a very different, more somber tone.
“The first take, because we sit there for three or four minutes… Hudson and I just kind of rode in silence and just cried during that whole scene,” Storrie said. “As actors, we were like, ‘We’re killing. We’re in it. This is real, we’re so in love.’ Then the music stops and Jacob comes around and is like, ‘Alrighty, let’s do one where you guys don’t look like you want to kill yourselves. Let’s start over.’ He was like, ‘Be cute. This is happy. This is fun.’”
The take used in the final cut is the second, happier version, which Tierney described as simply letting the characters “be in love” and “drive together with [Ilya’s] hand on [Shane’s] neck and just being sweet”.
A Finale of Quiet Victory and Changed Endings
The end-credit drive capped an episode that marked a significant tonal shift for the series. After the very public coming-out drama of teammate Scott Hunter in Episode 5, the finale narrowed its focus almost entirely to Shane and Ilya’s private getaway. The episode was a deliberate, “risky” choice by Tierney to shrink the world down to one primary location and the core couple.
A major plot point occurs when Shane’s father, David, unexpectedly visits the cottage and catches the two kissing. This forces a long-avoided conversation. With Ilya’s support, Shane drives to his parents’ home and tells them he is gay and in a relationship with Ilya. The scene includes a powerful, new moment written for the show between Shane and his mother, Yuna, where she apologizes for making him feel he couldn’t tell her and expresses her pride.
The television finale also differs from the ending of Rachel Reid’s 2019 novel. The book continues with an epilogue showing Shane coming out to his best friend and the couple later holding a press conference to announce a joint charity foundation. Tierney chose to conclude the season earlier for narrative reasons.
“One’s just a TV reason, which is, I don’t want to end with exposition,” Tierney told The Hollywood Reporter. “Ending with a news conference was probably not the ideal conclusion for the TV adaptation… What I remember so clearly was just this feeling of ‘Oh, they get to be in love.’ That’s all that I wanted”.
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The Road to Season 2
The finale firmly establishes Shane and Ilya as boyfriends, a label Shane repeats with a sense of epiphany at his parents’ table. While their public future remains uncertain, the season ends with them having a plan: Ilya will explore playing for a team in Ottawa to be closer to Shane in Montreal, and they discuss starting a hockey camp for kids, with proceeds going to suicide prevention in honor of Ilya’s mother.
A second season of Heated Rivalry has already been confirmed. While no release date has been set, executive producer Brendan Brady assured fans the wait “won’t be too long”. The series is available for streaming on HBO Max in the U.S. and on Crave in Canada.
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