A few months ago Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams were both working as waiters. Now they are the stars of Heated Rivalry, one of the most talked about shows in the world.
Adapted from a novel by Canadian author Rachel Reid, who writes “sexually explicit queer romance novels about hockey players”, Heated Rivalry chronicles a forbidden love affair between two rival ice hockey players.
The show was not an obvious a runaway hit. It was created and produced in Canada on a minimal budget – reportedly less than C$5m ($3.6m; £2.6m) per episode. Its six episodes were filmed in Ontario in just over a month, with a cast lead mostly by unknowns.
But since its debut in North America last November, Storrie, who plays Russian player Ilya Rozanov, and Williams, who plays Canadian Shane Hollander, have wracked up millions of fans, acted as torchbearers ahead of the Milan winter Olympics and appeared on a host of late night TV shows.
Storrie is set to host Saturday Night Live at the end of this month, while Williams – who reportedly still lives with his mum in Vancouver – recently shared a stage with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at an Ottawa film industry event.
“I was just talking with one of my agents yesterday, and she said Connor and I have had to learn what a lot of actors get in five years, in like 30 days,” Williams, who plays Hollander, told the Shut Up Evan podcast last month.
But its explosion into the zeitgeist since its debut last November has propelled its cast – and the people behind the scenes – into the stratosphere. Its penultimate episode has broken records to tie with Breaking Bad for the highest-rated episode ever on entertainment website IMDB. Now streaming in the UK and across the globe, the show’s runaway success has the potential to reshape the television landscape.
“We feel like proud mommas,” says Jenny Lewis, one of the casting directors who found Storrie and Williams.