We were joined on the Popternative show by Nadine Bhabha who plays Elena in the hockey romance Heated Rivalry, the global breakout series adapted from Rachel Reid’s popular book series, Game Changers. The Canadian Crave Original Series was quickly renewed for a second season after becoming Crave’s most successful original debut to date.
Nadine portrays Elena, the best friend of Kip (played by Robbie G.K.), introduced in the books and in Episode 3 of the series. “I love to see best friendship portrayed on TV. I think it’s an underrated love story,” Nadine says.
Nadine admits she was surprised by the scale of the show’s global success and didn’t anticipate just how passionate the fandom is. “They had the Montreal premiere, and then the next day they had it in Toronto and I went to the Toronto one, and I remember asking Brendan Brady [producer], “did any fans show up at the Montreal one?” And he said 700 fans were waiting to go in. And I was like, that is kind of crazy for a show that hasn’t aired [yet]. And then we had the premiere [in Toronto] and I was going up the escalator and there was a little pocket of fans who were like, “are you playing Elena?” Which is crazy because no one knew that that storyline was even going to be included, so it was kind of amazing that they even knew. And so I was like, okay, there is a shine on this show that is unlike anything I’ve ever seen and then I think it was the day after when so much press came out, and we’re Canadians, we barely get press for anything. The press of it all was so significant to me.”
As fans eagerly wait for the second season, Nadine hopes to see certain storylines continue and expand in the new season: “Because I know that the fans love #Skip [the ship name for Scott and Kip], I am part of that storyline, and I would love to go back to the Kingfisher. Elena used to have an apartment that is written in the books and it was written in some of the original drafts, so I would love to go home with Elena, see Elena and Kip in private, I think that would be really nice. And I want to get back to the Kingfisher crew because some other great friends run that show.”
Watch the full conversation with Nadine Bhabha below.
Heated Rivalry Season 1 is streaming on Crave (Canada), HBO Max (Australia, US), and Neon TV (New Zealand).
Follow Nadine Bhabha: Instagram