Nadine Bhabha is dishing on Heated Rivalry in a new interview!
The 35-year-old actress played Elena Rygg in season one, the best friend of Robbie G.K.‘s Kip Grady. She even recently won a 2026 Canadian Screen Award for her role.
Nadine is one the actresses featured for Seventeen‘s “Every Fandom Has Its Favorite” digital cover, and she opened up about when she knew the show was going to be huge and how she was the first person cast.
“At the Toronto premiere, which was four days before the show aired in Canada, the U.S., and Australia. There were fans of the books at the venue; that was unusual. Then after the first two episodes dropped, I’ve never seen that much press for a show with no previous buzz. It was insane,” Nadine dished about the show blowing up.
“Of course, after episode 3 dropped, everything changed. I was like, ‘Oh, we’ve really done something here.’ Usually people find a show much later. Jacob [Tierney] said, ‘I’ve never been watched in real time by real people. What is happening?’”
Nadine Bhabha was the first person cast in Heated Rivalry!
“I was the first person cast. I’ll never forget the day Jacob called and asked if I’d come to this new show of his. I immediately said yes, and it was so cool to watch them build this world.”
If you didn’t know, Nadine previously worked with Jacob on another hockey show – Letterkenny, which he co-created.
She also shared what she thinks is the aspect of queer storytelling fans are most eager for.
“Easy: gargantuan love. So much queer storytelling is wracked with strife,” Nadine said. “Of course, that reflects a reality many people live with, but aspirational queer TV is necessary, too. If straight people get The Notebook, we need the queer version.”
Heated Rivalry season two is set to begin filming soon – Find out which stars are expected to return!
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