Connor Storrie did not know how to speak Russian when he landed the role of Ilya Rozanov in Crave and HBO Max’s hit hockey romance Heated Rivalry. The Texas-born actor who now plays one of television’s most talked-about characters walked onto set with zero experience in the language. What happened next left even his dialect coach speechless.
The 25-year-old actor spent a week and a half doing intense Russian lessons before flying to Ontario, Canada for filming. Once on set, he continued four-hour Russian sessions every single day for the entire month and a half of production. His dedication did not go unnoticed.
‘All of It. He Humbles Me.’ – Dialect Coach’s Rare Praise for Storrie’s Work
The most powerful compliment about Storrie’s Russian performance did not come from fans or critics. It came from the professional who taught him.
In an interview with GQ, Heated Rivalry’s dialect coach revealed her reaction after watching Storrie film his emotional five-minute monologue entirely in Russian during episode five. Director Jacob Tierney was anxious. He turned to the coach and asked if any part of the take was usable.
Her response was immediate.
“All of it. He humbles me.”
The dialect coach admitted that Storrie’s command of the language and his ability to deliver a four-page Russian monologue with full emotional weight made her feel humbled as a professional. She did not expect a non-native speaker who had only been learning for weeks to reach that level of precision .
Storrie later told TVLine that the Russian monologue was “the most scary thing ever” about playing Ilya. He explained that he focused so hard on sounding Russian and not looking foolish on skates that everything else fell into place naturally .
From Texas to Moscow: How an American Actor Made Russians Believe He Was One of Them
Storrie grew up in Texas and currently lives in Los Angeles. He had no family connection to Russia and no formal training in the language before his audition. Yet his performance convinced native Russian speakers on set that he was bilingual.
During his appearance on Late Night With Seth Meyers, Storrie shared a story that surprised the host and viewers. While filming scenes set in Russia, almost all of the background actors were Russian speakers. After one take, an older Russian woman in the background approached him and started speaking rapid Russian. She assumed he understood her.
“I came back in to reset and she starts being like (speaking Russian), and then I’m like ‘no, I don’t do that!’” Storrie recalled .
Seth Meyers admitted during the interview that he fully believed the show had cast a Russian-speaking actor for the part. He learned otherwise only after reading about Storrie’s preparation process .
‘I Don’t Deserve Any Accolades for This’: Storrie on His Toughest Challenge
With all the attention on his Russian accent, many people assume language was the hardest part of playing Ilya. Storrie set the record straight.
During the same Late Night appearance, the actor revealed that learning Russian was not his biggest struggle. Skating was.
“That was the craziest part for me to play. Everyone always talks about the Russian, but the jock-ness of it all… these guys in the NHL, they have been skating since they were, like, 3 years old. So for Hudson and I to show up with like two weeks of skating training,” Storrie said.
He stood up and demonstrated a wobbly penguin walk to show how he and co-star Hudson Williams looked on the ice .
When Meyers asked if he eventually felt better about his skating, Storrie admitted that behind-the-scenes footage changed his mind.
“I watched it and I was like, ‘Oh boy’, I was like, ‘I don’t deserve any accolades for this’” .
Staying in Character All Day: The Method Behind the Accent
Storrie did not just practice Russian during formal lessons. He built the language into his daily routine on set.
In an interview with Behind the Blinds, he explained his process. The moment he stepped out of the car on set, he started speaking with the Russian accent to everyone. Production assistants, assistant directors, hair stylists, makeup artists, and wardrobe staff all heard him speak only in accent until the last cut of the day.
“Not because I was ‘in character,’ but because it gave me an hour and a half to warm up,” he said .
He admitted the accent felt ridiculous at first. His internal reaction was “I don’t sound like that.” But he pushed through that discomfort.
“If you normalise it – both for yourself and for the people around you – it starts to feel real. I think that’s why people convince themselves they’re bad at accents. They don’t give themselves permission to sound wrong at first” .
What Fans and Russian Speakers Are Saying About Storrie’s Performance
Viewers who actually speak Russian have verified what the dialect coach already knew. Storrie’s work holds up under the most critical ears.
One Russian-speaking fan wrote on social media: “Me as a Russian native speaker had the same idea as the Russian lady. I had to look him up in order to realize that he isn’t in fact someone who’s bilingual but doesn’t speak Russian a lot. I have younger cousins who sound a lot like him. He acted the sh** out of Ilya” .
Another fan sent a clip of Storrie’s dialogue to a Russian friend. The rating came back as “8 out of 10” with praise for the effort.
A viewer on X (formerly Twitter) posted: “the fact that as a russian i understood the entire ilya monologue in russian with zero issues says a lot. not a single word felt unclear. every time i’m blown away by how much work he clearly put into this. connor nailed it perfectly” .
From Gymnastics to Hockey: Storrie’s Unusual Path to Playing an NHL Star
Before he ever put on ice skates for Heated Rivalry, Storrie trained as a gymnast. He grew up in Texas doing flips and floor routines before shifting his focus to acting .
His gymnastics background did not help him on ice. But it did teach him the discipline required to learn an entirely new physical skill under pressure.
Storrie’s filmography before Heated Rivalry included a role in Joker: Folie à Deux, where he played a young Arkham Asylum inmate. He kept that role secret for nearly two years before confirmation came out during the film’s release .
Episode Five Makes History Alongside ‘Breaking Bad’
The episode containing Storrie’s Russian monologue has received recognition far beyond fan circles.
Episode five of Heated Rivalry currently holds a 10/10 score on IMDb. This ties it with Breaking Bad’s legendary episode Ozymandias for the highest-rated TV episode in IMDb history .
Pop culture expert Liz Duff told Newsweek that the adaptation’s success comes from its loyalty to the source material. Fans of Rachel Reid’s Game Changers book series are not fighting with the show creators. Instead, they are celebrating the small changes that make the performances stronger .
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What’s Coming in Season Two of Heated Rivalry
Heated Rivalry season two is officially greenlit. Storrie and Williams have signed contracts for three seasons, though Crave and HBO Max have not yet officially confirmed season three .
The second season will follow the plot of Rachel Reid’s The Long Game, the sixth book in the Game Changers series. This story takes place ten years after the events of the first season. Ilya and Shane are still together but have kept their relationship secret for an entire decade.
Storrie confirmed this in a promotional video: “Start reading The Long Game if you want to spoil it for yourself” .
Williams teased the new season as “hotter, wetter, longer” and revealed he is gaining 10 lean pounds for the role. Filming is expected to begin around July or August 2026 .
Showrunner Jacob Tierney told Variety that season two will arrive later than the one-year gap fans might expect. He is currently writing zero episodes compared to having five written at this time last year. His priority is quality over speed.
“I don’t want to put out a rushed shitty second season just because the show is very popular” .
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