Hudson Williams struggled to recapture Shane Hollander in “Heated Rivalry” Season 2

TORONTO – Hudson Williams said finding his way back to embodying Shane Hollander, the “Heated Rivalry” character that launched him to global stardom, was anything but straightforward.

The Kelowna, B.C.-born actor talked about filming the highly anticipated second season of the hockey romance series in a wide-ranging Q-and-A at the Toronto International Film Festival, where he also touched on his acting approach and set the record straight on his thoughts about Victoria, B.C.

The followup season of “Heated Rivalry” began filming in the Toronto area last month, after its breakout first season launched thousands of think pieces on hockey culture and fan edits of Williams’ on-screen chemistry with co-star Connor Storrie.

Williams said he and Storrie felt “possibly overconfident” returning to their roles as hockey players grappling with love, expectations and sexual orientation, but left their first days of filming feeling shaken. 

“Am I doing a Shane impression?” Williams recalled thinking after doing his first scene. “I was like, ‘Oh I’m losing you, I’m losing you.'”

Williams said the show having such a cultural impact made it difficult for him and Storrie to inhabit their roles in the same way they had before the world was watching them.

“It’s weird that our memory of playing Season 1 isn’t just our true memory of showing up and doing the scenes. It’s having watched them cut together. It’s fan reactions,” he told a crowded theatre at TIFF. “Our memory isn’t ours, it’s everyone’s. It has been abstracted and twisted and it has become this weird amalgamation of a memory.”

Williams credited showrunner Jacob Tierney for getting him and Storrie back to feeling comfortable as their characters.

“Jacob does a really good job of making this set feel as tiny as it was in Season 1. It’s all the same crew, which is really great,” he said.

Williams said he takes a fluid approach to acting, balancing doing his “homework and research” while also playing around in front of the camera in a way reminiscent of his time acting in and producing independent short films before his “Heated Rivalry” fame.

He credited that creative outlet for helping him get through auditions as a burgeoning actor, and not taking the process too seriously.

“I’m not going to spend time with this, I’m making my cool little short film,” he recalled thinking at the time. “And then I think the sexy indifference helps a bit in the audition room that you’re not just sitting on your couch doing nothing and then the audition comes and now it becomes Shakespeare. It’s like, no, that’s a CW show.”

“Sorry, CW,” he said.

Williams made another appearance at TIFF on Thursday evening at a screening of the first two episodes of his new TV show “YAGA.”

The series, which also stars Carrie-Anne Moss, Noah Reid and Clark Backo, is a modern retelling of the Baba Yaga myth set on Canada’s west coast and was filmed in Victoria.

Williams landed himself in a bit of hot water with residents of British Columbia’s capital after saying the city was “dead” and full of “old people” in an interview earlier this year.

The actor walked back those comments during Thursday’s Q-and-A, calling Victoria a “perfect little town” and said the surrounding nature helped strike a distinct tone during filming.

“YAGA” is based on the stage play by Kat Sandler, who serves as showrunner on the TV adaptation, and is due to hit the streaming service Crave next month.

Speaking on the red carpet ahead of the premiere, Sandler said she was always fascinated by the Slavic folklore figure.

“She (Baba Yaga) kind of represents wisdom and rage and the power of age and experience that magically comes from femininity.”

Backo, who plays a local detective in the show, said she wanted to be a part of the project because she loves how Sandler’s story explores “real, human, dark themes” using humour, mystery and sexiness.

Reid, meanwhile, said it was exciting to see Sandler’s play get adapted into a TV series. He said he couldn’t say no to playing the private investigator, whom Reid described as charming and unreliable.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2026.

— with files from Diana Mussina