We're only a few months removed from the breakout craze of Heated Rivalry, but we're continuing to learn new behind-the-scenes information about the first season while we wait for season 2. As it turns out, the series almost didn't have Christina Chang playing Shane Hollander's mom Yuna, as another actress revealed to fans that she turned down the role.
Actress and comedian Margaret Cho made an appearance at Fan Girl Cafe in Los Angeles, and in a video captured on TikTok, the star shared that she turned down starring as Yuna Hollander in the hockey romance series due to her fears that she could have been detained at the boarder once in Canada and refused re-entry into the United States.
"I was so scared," Cho told the audience at Fan Girl Cafe. "At that time, in April of last year, people were getting accosted at the boarder. I'm like, 'I'll get f-cking detained because I'm not white, I have no business going across the boarder.' It's just scary. I wrote to [creator, writer, and director] Jacob Tierney and I said, 'I know this show is going to be a huge hit, but I don't think that I'm safe to cross through the boarder.'"
Cho detailed that Tierney was also worried about series star Connor Storrie, who's American and not Canadian like most (if not all) of the cast, getting across the boarder to work on the series. That being said, he understood her fears about taking the role as Yuna Hollander, which seemingly led to Chang getting cast. Honestly, we can't picture Yuna not being played by Chang!
Still, that doesn't mean that Cho isn't regretting her decision in retrospect, especially after seeing how massive and beloved the show has become. "I am so pissed now. It's such a good show! I predicted it, I knew it was going to be a huge hit. The script was really great when I read it, and I knew that it was going to be a beautiful show. I wanted to do it, but that's how big my fear was."
Further explaining her fear, Cho worried that not being white and being outspoken about politics would have prevented her from coming back into the country. Obviously, she was mostly joking about being "pissed," as she also stated that it's "rewarding" to see how much joy the show was given to the world and being able to witness that as a fan just like us.
Upon Cho's revelation that she nearly stepped in to play Shane's mother in Heated Rivarly, fans have been talking about how her casting could have potentially changed Shane's characterization in the slightest way. Both Cho and series star Hudson Williams are Korean, but like in Rachel Reid's book, Shane remained half-Japanese in the series, though Chang is Taiwanese-Filipino.
Apart from the potential of Shane's Asian heritage being more true to his portrayer's own heritage, not much else would have changed had Cho played Yuna in place of Chang. Sure, Cho's known for her comedy, which could have made Yuna a little funnier, but it's hard to imagine Shane's No. 1 fan and momager of the century played by anyone else.
These casting near-misses are often some of the most interesting details to learn in retrospect because you consider a lot of the "what ifs" that come into play. There has been a lot of conversation about trying to land the right Shane and Ilya, with each casting process coming down to a few choices, but they struck gold. In the end, the stars aligned for Heated Rivalry in every single way.