Hudson Williams feared doing a 'Shane impression' on Heated Rivalry return

Hudson Williams was worried he was doing an impression of his character Shane when he returned to the Heated Rivalry set for season two.

Williams and Connor Storrie became famous overnight late last year for playing ice hockey players Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov in the hit sports romance series.

The duo recently returned to the set to shoot season two, and both worried they were doing impressions of the characters instead of inhabiting them fully.

During an on-stage interview at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) this week, Williams revealed they began filming on different days yet had the same experience.

After Storrie finished his first day, he told Williams, "It was sort of weird, they were all so good, that I was like, 'Am I good? Am I in it? Am I like doing an impression of Ilya?'"

He added, "I heard him say that I was like, 'OK, chump, I'm going to show (you)... Shane is going to come back like that (clicks fingers)."

According to fan footage posted on social media, he continued, "Then I showed up and I was doing the scene and there were some extras who were clearly fans. I was like, 'Oh God, oh God, am I doing a Shane impression?!' Oh, I'm losing it! I'm losing it!' ... I had the same thing; I think I was terrible. "

However, both Storrie and Williams found their footing with their characters after the first day, with help from showrunner Jacob Tierney.

"And then after our first day ones, it came back, thankfully," he shared. "Because Jacob does a really good job of making the set feel as tiny as it was in Season 1. It's all the same crew, which is really great. But it was surreal to step (back) into it."

The Canadian actor also noted that their memories of season one have "become this weird amalgamation" of the shooting experience, the finished episodes and the fan reaction.

Production began on season two in Canada last month. The show is set to premiere in spring 2027.