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‘Heated Rivalry’ Midseason Pivot Drives New Debate as Star Notes Cut Intimacy Footage

Viewers weighed a compressed take on a secondary couple after the series changed focus.

Overview

  • François Arnaud told Entertainment Weekly the production filmed “a lot, like two days of sex scenes” for episode 3, with much of that footage not included in the final cut.
  • Episode 3 centers Scott Hunter and Kip Grady from Rachel Reid’s first Game Changers novel, drawing strong praise from many fans and critiques that the storyline felt condensed.
  • Salon reported Reid initially drafted the Scott/Kip story as an AO3 post with Marvel “Stucky” elements, then removed those elements and rewrote the manuscript before publication.
  • Reid has said her characters are not based on real people, noting inspirations from NHL rivalries such as Crosby–Ovechkin, as reported by People.
  • Three of six episodes are currently streaming on Crave and HBO Max with weekly releases, and no renewal has been announced despite expressed interest in continuing the series.