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A CMDI professor praised Heated Rivalry for its willingness to defy the tropes associated with gay male characters, especially in a professional sports setting. Photo courtesy HBO.

Weeks after the release of its season finale, audiences are still going wild for Heated Rivalry. And while fans have been closely tracking the on-screen romance between the two leads—professional hockey players on opposing teams—Jamie Skerski is watching that relationship from a more critical perspective.

Skerski, who studies how narratives are shaped and mediated by institutions, audiences and cultural norms, said the show’s popularity points to “the complete lack of nuanced gay representation” in mass media.

“The show defies the stereotypical ‘gay man as feminine sidekick’ trope, and depicts masculinity as simultaneously strong/athletic and vulnerable,” said Skerski, teaching professor of communication at the College of Communication, Media, Design and Information.

While queer representation is more visible in the media than ever, Skerski said the show’s popularity points to what’s missing in that changing conversation. Of particular note, she said, is its setting against the hypermasculine culture of professional sports.

“The series destroys the logic of the hegemonic masculinity that says a real man is masculine, strong and heterosexual,” she said. “Here, we have strong, successful men who are clearly masculine despite their sexuality.”

A hot storyline ahead of Olympics

Jamie Skerski, right, says her students understand that representation in mass media is important—but so is the quality of what’s portrayed. Photo by Kimberly Coffin.

The story focuses on two professional hockey players on opposing teams whose relationship appears like a rivalry to fans, but is much more intimate behind closed doors. The show has generated fan edits on social media, its stars were chosen to be torch bearers for the 2026 Winter Olympics and NHL teams are selling merchandise featuring the characters.

While Heated Rivalry is upending traditional portrayals of masculinity, the show is doing so against one of the last places where homophobia is seen as acceptable—in the locker rooms and on the fields. Despite there being many women in major sports who have come out, the audience finds it intriguing to see a different narrative.

Something Skerski especially appreciated about the series is how it portrayed coming out as a complex process, instead of a linear one. Over the course of the show, both male leads struggle to come out over fears of ruining their careers and public images. Still, they are visibly tired of keeping up the facade.

“The nuance and thoughtfulness of that story arc are quite impressive,” she said. “The characters are in a constant state of managing identity, relationships and disclosure. The series portrays that tension with care and tenderness.”

The conversations about the show have even been had in the classroom, where students are thinking about thoughtful storytelling in the media.

The story, and popularity, of Heated Rivalry have come up in the conversations Skerski leads in her Communication, Culture and Sport class, which challenges students to think critically about the communicative, historical and cultural aspects of sports society, including the intersections of power, gender and sexuality, race, and class.

“Students generally understand that representation matters—but this is a good lesson on the quality of that representation,” Skerski said. “Representation that falls into tired tropes and stereotypes doesn’t do anything to challenge the underlying value systems that benefit from the perpetuation of those stereotypes.”

Iris Serrano is studying strategic communication and journalism at CMDI. She covers student news and events for the college.