Three Heated Rivalry actors – Hudson Williams, Connor Storrie and François Arnaud – have turned down Variety‘s yearly Actors on Actors feature, and Ramin Setoodeh, co-editor-in-chief and co-president of the outlet, is explaining why in a column published on Sunday (May 31).
“In all the years that I’ve produced Variety‘s Actors on Actors conversations, I’ve resisted the temptation to divulge how exactly the sausage gets made,” he began, before revealing the various reasons why he doesn’t explain how the feature comes together behind-the-scenes.
“I’m going to break my cardinal rule of Actors on Actors: I’m going to talk about a few of the stars who got away…sorry to disappoint, but we didn’t include any of the actors from Heated Rivalry. And it was not for a lack of trying,” Ramin admitted.
“I invited all three of the breakout actors from the groundbreaking series about gay hockey players to participate: the extraordinary Connor Storrie, the charming Hudson Williams and the magnetic François Arnaud,” he said, while praising their talent and superstardom.
“And yet, they turned us down. I’m certain they would have accepted the invitation if not for one key fact: Heated Rivalry isn’t eligible for this year’s Emmys due to a rule technicality. Since it’s made by Bell Media’s Crave, a Canadian streamer (airing in the U.S. on HBO Max), the show and its stars weren’t submitted for consideration, and as a result, the actors aren’t campaigning right now,” he said.
“While Actors on Actors isn’t only about winning awards…the conversations are published in Variety during the early days of Emmy Phase One voting — and so, it’s perfectly timed to help with the nomination process.”
Ramin went on to ponder how their inability to be nominated at the Emmys might have played into turning down the invite.
“Perhaps the stars were worried it would look presumptuous to take part in a campaign event for an award they categorically could not win. But the Emmys need Heated Rivalry more than Heated Rivalry needs the Emmys. It’s a genuine hit — not just among its core audience, but among casual TV viewers who swooned for its steamy romance and its carefully wrought character development,” he wrote, noting the Emmys will feel “strange” without acknowledging the series to due to its eligibility rules.
“I can only imagine the long line of veteran actors who would have agreed to sit across from three of Hollywood’s most exciting new stars. And there would have been no shortage of awards voters who would have pulled the lever for Ilya to take a victory lap on live TV,” Ramin concluded.
At the same time, the 2026 Canadian Screen Awards, put on by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television, resulted in Heated Rivalry picking up every award they were nominated for!
Posted To:Actors On Actors Connor Storrie Francois Arnaud Heated Rivalry Hudson Williams Variety
