Where you’ve seen stars of HBO’s Heated Rivalry, Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams, before

Connor Storrie who was born in Odessa, Texas, appeared in the 2024 film, Joker: Folie à Deux, alongside Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, and Brendan Gleason. Connor portrayed a young Arkham Asylum inmate who was heavily implied to be the real Joker.

For the role, Connor was required to keep a major secret. He told Variety in November: “It was so under wraps. I didn’t know anything else about the movie except that part in it. They were very serious. I didn’t say anything to anyone for two years.”

This secret keeping may have helped him step into the role of Ilya Rozanov, who keeps his relationship with Shane Hollander tight lipped out of fear of backlash from his home country of Russia – a country with famously strict anti-LGBTQ+ laws and sentiments that lead to extreme systemic persecution, violence and extrajudicial killings.

Hudson, who is Canadian just like his character in Heated Rivalry, appeared in an episode of the CBS crime procedural, Tracker. The show, which stars Justin Hartley, follows a detective traveling the country in his old-school RV, helping police and private citizens solve crimes.

In his episode, Hudson starred as Brandon Stokes, a character involved in a serial killer case, focusing on childhood trauma. The young actor’s ability to play both someone impacted by childhood trauma and a closeted professional hockey player with autism proves his keen abilities.

Aside from Joker: Folie à Deux, Connor appeared in an episode of the television miniseries, Tiny Beautiful Things, alongside Kathryn Hahn. While his role was small – his credit is simply “[Expletive] Apartment Guy” – the experience working on a television show surely prepared him for his work on Heated Rivalry.

The actor, who is now synonymous with Shane Hollander and the techno-beats pulsing throughout Heated Rivalry, is also a writer and director. In 2024, he wrote, directed, and starred in the short film, Rancid. That year was big for Hudson, as he appeared in two television shows and seven films – both shorts and features.

The actor has spoken fondly about working with the Heated Rivalry director, Jacob Tierney, and how he helped him prepare to make Shane’s story feel authentic. “Talking with Jacob…was the most grounding aspect of that because at the end of the day, sexuality is more fluid than a lot of people think it is,” Hudson told his alma mater, Langara College, in an interview from December 2025.

While the two actors had blossoming careers before Heated Rivalry took off, the HBO show is cementing them as rising Gen-Z stars. The Canadian series peaked as the number one show on the streaming platform in its third week, and has stayed in the top three since its premiere.

The paperback version of the book, Heated Rivalry, is sold out at most bookstores across the country. And luckily for fans of the romance – and of Connor and Hudson – we’ll be getting more. HBO confirmed that there will be a second season of Heated Rivalry, which Hudson confirmed to Instagram would be: “Hotter. Wetter. Longer.”