Jacob Tierney’s New Book 'I’ll Believe in Anything' Takes Fans Inside Heated Rivalry’s Breakout Success

Jacob Tierney is ready to take Heated Rivalry fans back to the cottage. Less than a year after the Crave hockey romantic drama became a cultural phenomenon, the Canadian actor-turned-showrunner is ready to pull back the curtain on his acclaimed adaptation of Rachel Reid’s Game Changer novels. I’ll Believe in Anything—publishing October 13 from Little, Brown and Company—is an annotated collection of Tierney’s six Heated Rivalry scripts from season one.

Featuring a foreword from Reid, the book offers a detailed and candid look at how Tierney’s small, tight-knit team crafted the show’s standout moments. The collection details everything from costume design and intimacy choreography to the creative choice of interweaving Scott Hunter (François Arnaud) and Kip Grady’s (Robbie G.K.) storyline with the clandestine love story of Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) and Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie), making it a must-read for both devoted fans and television enthusiasts alike. But I’ve always been a person who’s happy to let people read their scripts,” Tierney tells Teen Vogue.

I’ve never obviously felt so observed in my life, and I know people have an appetite for this. So I was like, ‘Yeah, great. You’re welcome to see how this [process] goes.’” I’ll Believe in Anything is just the latest commercial venture from Accent Aigu Entertainment—the production banner led by Tierney and partner Brendan Brady—which has capitalized on Heated Rivalry’s success by expanding international distribution, launching official merchandise lines, and even starting a real-life foundation inspired by the books’ canon.

But while the show’s breakout success made overnight stars of its lead actors, it was no less transformative for its creators. (Alongside Heated Rivalry, Tierney is currently adapting Annabel Lyon’s novel The Golden Mean into a drama series for Netflix.) Teen Vogue was the first major U.S. publication to cover Heated Rivalry before its massive breakout last November. (Read our exclusive first-look story here, as well as the full transcript of Williams and Storrie’s first joint interview here.) In early August—just days before starting production on the highly anticipated second season, slated for next year—Tierney hopped on a video call with us to reflect on season one and drop a few hints about what lies ahead. Teen Vogue: You write in I’ll Believe in Anything that memory plays a crucial role in how you wanted to adapt Shane and Ilya’s relationship for the screen. At what point during the adaptation process did you settle on that thematic through line, and why did you feel that was the best way to tell those early chapters of their love story?

Jacob Tierney: I don’t know when I settled on it. It’s probably something I realized more as I went along, that that’s what I was doing. I just knew that the moments that mattered were the moments where they met, the moments where they interacted with each other.

So when I did attempt to fill in the blanks, I was like, “Why am I doing this? Who cares?” The architecture that matters here is their love story. So if they’re doing things off on their own, unless it’s teaching me something about their relationship, I don’t need it.