Jacob Tierney Leans Into The “Smut” Of Buzzy Hockey Romance ‘Heated Rivalry’

Jacob Tierney’s latest project, the queer hockey romance series "Heated Rivalry", has quickly become a focal point in discussions about how far queer television can go in mixing explicit sexuality, emotional sincerity, and mainstream appeal. The Canadian writer-director, long associated with the offbeat humor of "Letterkenny," is now at the center of a broader cultural conversation about “smut,” respectability politics, and what affirming queer representation can look like when it refuses to be coy about sex.

Adapted from Rachel Reid’s popular "Game Changers" romance novel of the same name, "Heated Rivalry" follows rival professional hockey stars Ilya Rozanov and Shane Hollander as their on-ice competition evolves into a passionate and long-running love affair. Tierney has described the show as an unabashedly romantic, sex-forward series that aims to stay faithful to the “smutty” intensity of its source material while providing queer audiences with a joyful, unapologetic fantasy.

Jacob Tierney has been a visible presence in film and television for decades, starting as a child actor before expanding into writing and directing. Born in Montréal in 1979, he began acting around age six and appeared in projects such as the horror anthology "Are You Afraid of the Dark?" and various Canadian television series and films. Over time, he became more widely known behind the camera, directing features including "Twist" , "The Trotsky" , "Good Neighbors" , and "Preggoland" .

Tierney’s profile rose significantly with "Letterkenny," the Canadian sitcom he co-created, co-wrote, directed, and executive produced, in which he also played the flamboyant Pastor Glen. The series earned multiple Canadian Screen Awards, including Best Comedy Series, and became a cult favorite for its rapid-fire wordplay and exploration of small-town dynamics. Tierney is openly queer and has spoken about how that identity informs his creative interests, particularly as he shifts from “bro comedy” toward more overtly queer and emotionally earnest stories like "Heated Rivalry."

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Tierney admitted that when he first read Rachel Reid’s "Heated Rivalry," he did not initially consider adapting it because of “the level of smut to it.” He explained that the book’s explicit content led him to hesitate, even as he recognized how strongly the material resonated with him.

However, Tierney ultimately decided that the combination of a gay romance and professional hockey was simply too personally meaningful to ignore, quipping, “It’s gay and hockey. That’s me.” He emphasized that part of his motivation was to make space for queer stories that do not shy away from eroticism while still centering character, emotion, and narrative payoff.

Tierney has repeatedly underscored that the series is meant to be faithful to the tone and explicitness of the novel, framing it as a Harlequin-style romance with a distinctly queer sensibility rather than a toned-down, family-friendly version of LGBTQ+ love. In a conversation with writer Evan Ross Katz on Substack , Tierney drew a comparison to Queer as Folk, noting that both are “sex-forward,” but stressing that "Heated Rivalry" leans into escapist fantasy rather than gritty realism, offering its protagonists success, glamour, and a fully realized love story.

He has also highlighted that queer audiences “get to have it all in this one”—meaning explicit sex scenes, emotional authenticity, and a happy ending that aligns with the romance novel tradition. This stance positions "Heated Rivalry" squarely within an ongoing shift in queer media toward stories that allow LGBTQ+ characters not only survival, but pleasure, fulfillment, and narrative satisfaction.

"Heated Rivalry’"s leads, portrayed by actors Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie, have attracted widespread attention for their on-screen chemistry and the intensity of their scenes together. Tierney has praised their dynamic, recalling that “the chemistry was just insane” during auditions and that seeing them together felt like “perfection. ”

At the same time, Tierney has been explicit about setting boundaries around public discussion of the actors’ own sexual orientations. In an interview with LGBTQ+ outlet Xtra , he intervened when the actors were asked about their personal lives in relation to the ongoing debate over whether queer roles should be played only by queer performers. Tierney responded by noting that it is legally impermissible to ask about someone’s sexual orientation during casting, explaining that the production instead evaluates enthusiasm and commitment to telling the story authentically.

He framed this approach as both a legal requirement and an ethical stance, stressing that what matters is the performers’ willingness to “do the work” to make the love story feel real and respectful. This position reflects a broader tension within queer media debates: the desire for authentic representation alongside respect for individuals’ privacy and legal protections in employment contexts.

In interviews, Tierney has connected "Heated Rivalry" to his own long-standing interest in hockey and his awareness of how the sport has often been coded as hypermasculine and exclusionary to openly queer players. Speaking to Toronto Life , he discussed how homophobia and rigid gender norms have historically shaped hockey culture, making the idea of an openly gay romantic pairing at the top levels of the sport feel both radical and deeply appealing.

Yet Tierney is clear that his series is not intended as a sociological exposé or a documentary-style takedown of real-world hockey institutions. Instead, he describes "Heated Rivalry" as “escapist fantasy,” offering viewers a world where two elite athletes can be wildly successful, passionately in love, and ultimately safe in their happiness. By positioning the story within the conventions of commercial romance fiction, Tierney sidesteps the expectation that queer sports narratives must center tragedy, outing, or career-ending backlash.

This approach aligns with a larger trend in queer storytelling that prioritizes joy, desire, and wish fulfillment over purely trauma-focused plots, while still acknowledging the real structural barriers many LGBTQ+ people face in sports and other arenas. Tierney’s decision to keep the tone aspirational, even as the show deals with secrecy and public image, suggests a belief that affirming fantasies have their own political and emotional value for queer audiences.

Tierney’s frank discussion of “smut” has resonated with viewers who are wary of respectability politics in LGBTQ+ media. By openly acknowledging his initial hesitation about adapting a book with explicit content—and then choosing to preserve that explicitness—he challenges the idea that queer stories must be sanitized to be culturally valuable or marketable.

In the conversation with Evan Ross Katz, Tierney suggests that, like "Queer as Folk" before it, "Heated Rivalry" might generate excitement precisely because it treats queer sex as central rather than peripheral to the narrative. He positions the project as part of a lineage of sex-forward queer television while emphasizing that his series is rooted in romance genre conventions that demand emotionally satisfying conclusions.

Tierney has also stressed, in various interviews, that queer characters in "Heated Rivalry" are allowed to be complex, glamorous, and fully realized without being reduced solely to their suffering. This combination of explicit eroticism and narrative affirmation pushes back against both heteronormative discomfort with queer sexuality and internal community debates that sometimes frame overtly sexual media as less “serious” or less politically respectable.

Tierney’s move from the laconic small-town satire of "Letterkenny" to the lush, high-stakes romance of "Heated Rivalry" marks a notable shift in tone and focus. In his Toronto Life interview, he discussed stepping away from “bro comedy” toward storytelling that foregrounds emotional openness and queer intimacy. This transition reflects his evolving interests as a queer creator, as well as a broader industry trend in which established showrunners leverage their reputations to push more explicitly LGBTQ+-centered projects into mainstream view.

The series also reflects Tierney’s long-standing interest in theatre and character-driven work; beyond television and film, he has directed stage productions such as Tom Stoppard’s "Travesties," an experience he has cited as sharpening his sense of structure and dialogue. Bringing that sensibility to a glossy, romance-driven streaming series allows him to combine genre pleasures—banter, conflict, and slow-burn longing—with frank depictions of sex and affection between men.

By bringing a proudly erotic, emotionally sincere queer love story into the hockey arena, Tierney and his collaborators are contributing to an evolving media landscape in which LGBTQ+ characters are increasingly allowed to be fully themselves—on the ice, in bed, and in the hearts of global audiences.