Since we packed up and left the cottage at the end last year, the agonizing wait for Heated Rivalry season 2 has been on. For a lot of fans new to the series, the hiatus has given us time to catch up on Rachel Reid's book series. Reading the books gives us further insight into the characters, the moments we saw onscreen, and the moments we haven't but want to see onscreen.
Knowing that season 2 will adapt The Long Game, there are plenty of wish list moments that we're hoping to see between Shane and Ilya. However, the Heated Rivalry epilogue still has some key scenes set to be included in season 2. While appearing on the Loon Call Podcast with fellow executive producer Brendan Brady, showrunner Jacob Tierney confirmed we will actually see Shane come out to the Metros.
Before sharing Shane's next monumental moment that's soon to come in season 2, Tierney had been discussing other moments that had been omitted from the book, including the actual content of Ilya's Russian monologue and Shane's post-coming out conversation with Yuna, that he wrote himself and included in the first season of the show.
"We will feel it if that's not there. You may not be able to name it, but you'll feel it. In the same way that in, spoiler, season 2, I'm gonna have to do Shane coming out to his team. I can't do that off-screen. That's not how TV works. I can't have somebody tell you about a thing that's that important that happened. You have to see it. You have to experience it yourself," he explained.
Shane will come out to his team in Heated Rivalry season 2
When reading the Heated Rivalry book for the first time, I was admittedly shocked that such a huge milestone for Shane had been glazed over. Its inclusion in the epilogue does lend itself to being told in retrospect rather than being a fully formed scene containing reactions from the various players (which as we later find out aren't particularly ecstatic) and Shane's own reaction.
In context of the story being told in the books, it's small potatoes compared to the storm coming for Shane and Ilya in The Long Game. But for the visual storytelling happening in the television adaptation, Tierney couldn't be more correct that the audience needs to see Shane being honest with his team about who he is. Like in the book, we can't be told how that went.
Tierney explained that there's privilege in writing novels that allows for the prose and interior monologue to quickly summarize certain moments rather than expanding upon them with dialogue. However, he's excited to take on the challenge to once again pull out a smaller moment from Reid's books and bring them to life onscreen. In fact, when reading the books and breaking them apart before writing the scripts, he knew which moments he would be maximizing for the screen.
After witnessing the incredible, Emmy-worthy (even though the show isn't eligible) moments that Tierney expertly created in season 1, I have no doubts that Shane's coming out scene with his team and any other little sequences that occur in exposition will be the ones we're left awestruck by in season 2. Just remember, "Wow, genetic" isn't a line from the book.
As excited as I am to have confirmation that Tierney will return to the first book's epilogue for parts of season 2, I'm not keeping my hopes up that the final scenes at the cottage will be adapted. The press conference, Shane coming out to the team, and even the dinner with Hayden are the important beats still left to be covered on top of The Long Game. It's going to be a packed season!