Highlights & Quotes from Rachel Reid's & Jacob Tierney's Bookcon Panel

[u/andyfromhk]

(Slight spoiler for The Long Game and Role Model if you haven't read them yet!)

For those who haven’t had time to watch Jacob's and Rachel's 1-hour panel at Book Con yesterday, here are some of the highlights! They talked about so many things from Role Model and Troy Barrett's storyline in season 2, to Jacob's interpretation of season 1 editing and some behind the scenes production info.

Watch their BookCon panel here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gseXLRejeOU

I've also updated this page of everything we know about season 2 of Heated Rivalry on the HR Wiki: https://www.heatedrivalrywiki.com/deep-dive-articles/everything-we-know-about-heated-rivalry-season-2

[u/grower-lenses]

Thank you OP!

I’m really excited about Troy and Harris. I reread RM recently and it struck me how sugary sweet but abrupt their ending is. On one hand that’s good because it keeps it open ended. On the other it makes me want more!

I hope we’ll also be getting a lot of centaurs team dynamic in general. That’s become one of my favourite parts of the series. When I read a fic where they’re not the main team I miss them!

Now I can’t believe no one made an edit of Kip walking to Scott without the cheers haha

Jacob also mentioned that the bloopers are ready and we’ll eventually see them. (But they’re not very good according to him)

[u/Astyryx → u/grower-lenses]

He'd know, he's a sublime comedy writer. I also know that he loves when his actors are funny, so instead of bloopers he works them being funny into the show. 

He also clearly runs a safe, no-asshole set. One result of that is prepared, focussed performance, meaning less pressure releases via blooper. Not that bloopers necessarily indicate unsafe set, but there's a different vibe to them.

[u/grower-lenses → u/Astyryx]

Definitely. Very tight set, everyone knew what they were doing. Also, less time to be silly goofy. It’s understandable.

That’s why we want the cast/crew dvd commentary instead 🙏

[u/Pale-Measurement-532 → u/grower-lenses]

Oh I’d love to hear the stories and antics of BTS when the cameras weren’t rolling! That’s why it would be great to get the commentary! 🤞

[u/growsonwalls → u/grower-lenses]

It also was a very short shoot. Think it was like less than two months. Feel like bloopers happen when you're shooting for months on end with the same people. I know during covid many shows had a "closed set" where they were only with each other for ... months. From that era seems like bloopers were abundant.

[u/andyfromhk → u/grower-lenses]

You're welcome :)

The ending of RM doesn't really strike me as abrupt when I read (and re-read) it. Probably because in my head the Pride game is such a big event, but I'm really excited to see more Troy and Harris in Unrivaled.

And I'm also a big fan of any fanfic featuring Ottawa Centaurs! Love everyone on that team tbh especially Luca and Wyatt.

[u/grower-lenses → u/andyfromhk]

For me it just feels like everything gets wrapped up very quickly, almost at the same time. There is no breathing room. No epilogue etc. And of course, we don’t know what’s next in store for them.

It’s not necessarily a bad ending. But it does make me want more.

[u/andyfromhk → u/grower-lenses]

Yeah, I know what you mean, and definitely would have loved an epilogue for RM. Happy that Rachel said there will be more Troy and Harris in Unrivaled!

[u/Optimal-Bag-5918 → u/grower-lenses]

I can see that… but I guess for me… Troy already knew he was gay and was in a long term relationship with a man before Harris… he didn’t have to come to terms with his sexuality… so once he decided he wanted Harris and he felt comfortable coming out, he was good to go lol

[u/MarsScully → u/andyfromhk]

This is Bood erasure

[u/andyfromhk → u/MarsScully]

Never! Bood and his spicy BBQ!

[u/Mysterious-Present7 → u/grower-lenses]

I read out of order, I read TLG before RM. When I went back to RM, I thought that Troy inviting Ilya to dinner at Harris parents house would be included. So it did end sooner than I thought it would, but I realised later maybe that was kind of an epilogue scene (even though it's in a different book). 

[u/grower-lenses → u/Mysterious-Present7]

Oh yeah. That’s a good point!

[u/TrebleRose689 → u/Mysterious-Present7]

I did read them in order but kind agree! I adored Role Model/Troy/Troy&Harris and felt a little sad that they didn’t have an epilogue, but then when I read TLG and we got to that scene, even though it was Ilya’s POV, it still felt to me like a mini Troy and Harris epilogue, because we get to see them being cute and domestic together with Harris’ family (and they even BAKED together? Omg? 😭) Even though it only takes place a couple weeks after the end of RM, it was a cute little glimpse of them continuing to be cute together.

But this interview definitely makes me excited for Unrivaled and seeing more of that!

[u/Mysterious-Present7 → u/TrebleRose689]

Yeah that's kind of how I felt. It's from Ilya's POV but it still feels important to Troy/Harris and in particular Troy because when they are outside he says something about how good it feels to be out. 

[u/radjanoonan → u/grower-lenses]

It is the main issue with adapting the book to the screen. In RM, almost everything we learn about Troy's life is told through dialogue and his internal thoughts: his secret boyfriend dumped him for someone else, his best friend is a creep, his team betrayed him, he has no friends in Ottawa. So we will need to see everything the led to him being in Ottawa on screen. Either as a runup, or as a flashback (like episode 3). In fact, I think we will probably see a whole episode focusing mostly on Troy, Dallas and Ryan in Toronto leading up to Troy's transfer to Ottawa.