Updated

Updated · Deadline · Aug 8

Rachel Reid Shrugs Off Season 2 Casting Backlash as Heated Rivalry Eyes Spring 2027 Return

Updated

Updated · Deadline · Aug 8

Rachel Reid Shrugs Off Season 2 Casting Backlash as Heated Rivalry Eyes Spring 2027 Return

Q: Did a simple scheduling conflict secretly force the producers to completely reinvent the highly anticipated romance for Season 2?

No. The available reporting does not show that a scheduling conflict forced producers to reinvent Season 2’s central romance. What is supported is much narrower: Jack Innanen, a fan-favorite choice for Troy Barrett, was reportedly unable to take a Season 2 role because of scheduling conflicts. That appears to have affected one casting possibility, not the underlying storyline. Crave had already confirmed that Season 2 would adapt Rachel Reid’s *The Long Game* alongside *Role Model*, which naturally brings Harris Dover and Troy Barrett into the season. The romance itself was therefore not a last-minute rewrite caused by Innanen’s unavailability. It was already built into the adaptation plan. What changed was the actor ultimately playing Troy: Charlie Gillespie was cast instead. Justice Smith was cast as Harris, prompting some backlash from readers who felt he did not match the character’s physical description in the books. Rachel Reid, along with creator Jacob Tierney and executive producer Brendan Brady, pushed back on that criticism. Their public comments framed the casting as a creative choice based on chemistry, vulnerability and emotional fit, not as a scramble after a production problem. So the evidence points to a standard casting pivot, not a secret overhaul. Innanen’s scheduling conflict may have closed one option, but there is no indication it changed the decision to foreground Harris and Troy’s romance in Season 2.

3 articles · Updated · Deadline · Aug 8

Rachel Reid answered criticism of Heated Rivalry Season 2 casting with an Instagram Story, recalling fans who said last summer that casting Ilya and Shane was “wrong and bad.”
Friday’s backlash followed news that Justice Smith and Charlie Gillespie will play Harris Drover and Troy Barrett, the central couple from Role Model, book 5 in Reid’s Game Changer series.
Production on the Crave original began in Canada earlier this week, with Season 2 set to premiere in spring 2027.
Series creator Jacob Tierney and producer Brendan Brady said Smith and Gillespie showed the “depth and heart” needed for Harris and Troy, whose story pairs a cheerful social media manager with a hockey player carrying a bullying past.