Heated Rivalry season two casts Daniel Diemer as ‘essential’ character
Daniel Diemer joins Heated Rivlary season two. (Robby Klein/Getty)
Percy Jackson and the Olympians and The Half of It star Daniel Diemer will be taking to the ice as Ryan Price in Heated Rivalry season two.
The 30-year-old Canadian actor will play the star of the third book in Rachel Reid’s Game Changers, Tough Guy.
Like Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) and Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie), Diemer’s Ryan is a queer ice hockey star. However, Ryan’s story and romance differ greatly from the show’s central couple.
With season two now officially in production, here’s everything you need to know about Daniel Diemer and Ryan Price ahead of Heated Rivalry season two…
Who is Daniel Diemer in Heated Rivalry season two?
For the second season of Heated Rivalry, Daniel Diemer is joining the show as hockey enforcer and defenceman Ryan Price.
In Reid’s Tough Guy, Ryan is the focus as he transfers to the ice hockey team Toronto Guardians and struggles with anxiety. There, he reunites with musician and childhood flame, Fabian Salah (Shaheen Jafargholi).
Fabian is an androgynous Lebanese-Canadian musician. Fabian and Ryan knew each other when they were younger, but as adults there’s a spark between them that neither can ignore.
In Reid’s The Long Game, Ryan is retired and travels with Fabian while he’s on tour. He is also one of the very few aware of Shane and Ilya’s romance and helps coach young players at their Game Changers Hockey Camp.
Co-creators Jacob Tierney and Brendan Brady said the pair were essential additions to the series. As reported by Variety: “Fabian and Ryan each bring a distinctive energy to the world Rachel Reid has created. They are bold, complicated and deeply compelling characters, and finding actors who could really take on all of those different sides was so important to us.”
‘They make these characters their own.’
Tierney and Brady added: “Daniel and Shaheen bring such confidence and emotional honesty to the roles. We can’t wait for audiences to see what they do with Fabian and Ryan and how they make these characters their own.”
Season two is set to draw mostly from The Long Game, which continues Ilya and Shane’s journey as a couple.
However, based on casting, it seems elements from Reid’s books Tough Guy and Role Model will be interwoven.
Role Model centres on the relationship between the Centaurs’ social media manager, Harris Drover (Justice Smith), and complicated hockey player Troy Barrett (Charlie Gillespie).
Other key hockey players have also been cast, including Edvin Ryding as Luca Haas and Robert Naylor as Wyatt Hayes.
Season two also bolsters the wider Heated Rivalry world. Off the ice, Sabrina Jalees is playing hockey agent Farah Jalali, Milla Jovovich as Ilya’s therapist Dr Galina Molchalina, Emily Hampshire as Vanessa and also Priyanka as Tarek.
Is Daniel Diemer queer?
Diemer has not publicly shared his personal sexuality.
He previously starred in queer dramas like The Half of It, and he has an upcoming queer role in Heated Rivalry.
However, just because he’s taken on queer roles doesn’t mean this is a reflection his own identity.
What else has Daniel Diemer been in?
Diemer has appeared in several TV and film roles before Heated Rivalry.
He had a recurring role in the TV show Sacred Lies, Emma Fielding: More Bitter Than Death and Family Pictures, and the historical drama The Man in the High Castle.
More prominently, he’s best known for playing Tyson in Disney+ series Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Tyson is the titular character’s younger Cyclops half-brother.
Additionally, Diemer starred as Paul in the 2020 queer YA drama The Half of It. The character is a school jock whom Ellie (Leah Lewis) helps out by writing love letters. However, Ellie falls for the girls that Paul is trying to romance.
Heated Rivalry is streaming now on HBO, Crave and NOW. Season two is confirmed to premiere in spring 2027.
