The boys of Heated Rivalry had a golden night, despite not being eligible for nomination at the 2026 Golden Globes. Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams mingled with Hollywood's biggest stars at the Jan. 11 awards show, even hitting the stage together to present an award. However, viewers may have wondered why they weren't up for any awards themselves.
Well, it turns out that Heated Rivalry wasn't eligible for nomination at this year's ceremony because its first season was entirely produced and financed in Canada. As the Golden Globes' eligibility rules state, "Foreign programs (programs produced principally outside the United States) are not eligible for television awards unless they are the result of a coproduction (both financially and creatively) between a United States partner and a foreign partner, which precedes the completion of production of the program."
Indeed, although American audiences streamed the six-episode season on HBO Max, the series was primarily produced by Canadian production companies Accent Aigu Entertainment and Bell Media, which owns the Canadian streaming service Crave that originally commissioned Heated Rivalry. Unfortunately for American fans of the hockey series, a similar rule impacts Heated Rivalry's chances at the 2026 Emmy Awards in September too.
According to the Television Academy, "Foreign television is ineligible unless it is the result of a co-production (both financially and creatively) between U.S. and foreign partners, which precedes the start of production." That being said, Heated Rivalry could still be nominated in the international Emmys categories, though those are historically not televised.
However, the good news is that the series has already been renewed for a second season by Crave and HBO, and the latter becoming involved in production for season two could alter its awards eligibility moving forward.
At the 2026 Golden Globes, Hudson shared some insight into his chemistry with Connor both on and off the screen. "Connor and I had chemistry instantly," he told Zuri Hall in an exclusive interview on Live from E: Golden Globes 2026. "But then we had to find a way to get Shane and Ilya to have chemistry."
But as the 24-year-old explained, there's a difference between the actors and their characters. "Connor is very expressive. Ilya is kind of like this Slavic rock," he noted. "Then Shane is also like a dense brick. So, you have the Slavic rock and the dense brick."
