{"id":32960,"date":"2026-08-08T18:19:24","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T13:19:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=32960"},"modified":"2026-08-08T18:19:24","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T13:19:24","slug":"heated-rivalry-author-rachel-reid-seemingly-responds-to-backlash-over-harris-troy-casting-just-jared-celebrity-news-and-gossip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=32960","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Heated Rivalry&#8217; Author Rachel Reid Seemingly Responds to Backlash Over Harris &#038; Troy Casting | Just Jared &#8211; Celebrity News and Gossip"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"post-2261819\">\n<p>\t\t\t\t<!-- Franchise logo or primary category --><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<!-- post title --><\/p>\n<p><!-- \/post title --><\/p>\n<p><!-- subheader --><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<!-- post thumbnail --><\/p>\n<figure class=\"tpd-post-thumbnail-container caption_belowImage credit_onImage\"><img width=\"788\" height=\"444\" src=\"https:\/\/www.justjared.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/rachel-reid-defends-harris-troy-788x444.jpg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium tpd-force-16x9-aspect-ratio wp-post-image\" alt=\"Rachel Reid defends Harris &amp; Troy casting\" decoding=\"sync\" loading=\"eager\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.justjared.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/rachel-reid-defends-harris-troy-428x241.jpg 428w, https:\/\/www.justjared.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/rachel-reid-defends-harris-troy-788x444.jpg 788w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 430px) 100px, 788px\" fetchpriority=\"high\" data-cf-ratio=\"788x444\"\/><figcaption><span class=\"credit-text\">Credit: Getty<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<!-- \/post thumbnail --><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.justjared.com\/tags\/rachel-reid\/\" class=\"celebrity-tag-link\"><strong class=\"celebrity-tag-strong\">Rachel Reid<\/strong><\/a> is defending the new <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.justjared.com\/tags\/heated-rivalry\/\" class=\"celebrity-tag-link\"><strong class=\"celebrity-tag-strong\">Heated Rivalry<\/strong><\/a><\/em> actors.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Friday (August 7), it was announced that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justjared.com\/tags\/justice-smith\/\" class=\"celebrity-tag-link\"><strong class=\"celebrity-tag-strong\">Justice Smith<\/strong><\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justjared.com\/tags\/charlie-gillespie\/\" class=\"celebrity-tag-link\"><strong class=\"celebrity-tag-strong\">Charlie Gillespie<\/strong><\/a> have been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justjared.com\/2026\/08\/07\/heated-rivalry-announces-new-season-2-actors-for-harris-troy-roles\/\">cast to play Harris Drover and Troy Barrett<\/a>, respectively, in the second season of the hit Crave and HBO Max series.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, as soon as the news was announced, many fans took with issue with the casting choices, particularly with <strong>Justice<\/strong>, 30, playing Harris since in the <em>Role Model <\/em>book, the character is described as having red hair with a stocky build.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-medium_large caption_belowImage credit_onImage mobile-image-full-width\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.justjared.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/harris-troy.jpg\" class=\"pss-trigger\" role=\"button\" data-pss-trigger=\"0\" aria-controls=\"pss-modal\" aria-label=\"Open gallery of 2 images.\" title=\"Open gallery of 2 images.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"788\" height=\"525\" src=\"https:\/\/www.justjared.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/harris-troy-788x525.jpg\" alt=\"Rachel Reid defends Harris &amp; Troy casting\" class=\"wp-image-2261821\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.justjared.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/harris-troy-788x525.jpg 788w, https:\/\/www.justjared.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/harris-troy-428x285.jpg 428w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 430px) 100px, 100vw\"\/><span class=\"pss-trigger__badge\" aria-hidden=\"true\">2<\/span><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"\/><\/figure>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As many debated creator <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justjared.com\/tags\/jacob-tierney\/\" class=\"celebrity-tag-link\"><strong class=\"celebrity-tag-strong\">Jacob Tierney<\/strong><\/a>\u2018s casting decisions, <strong>Rachel<\/strong> \u2013 who wrote the <em>Game Changers<\/em> book series \u2013 took to her <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/rachelreidwrites\/\">Instagram Story<\/a> to seemingly address the criticism.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThinking about all the people last summer who told me the casting for Ilya and Shane was wrong and bad\u2026.\u201d <strong>Rachel<\/strong> wrote.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As they announced that <strong>Justice <\/strong>and <strong>Charlie<\/strong>, 27, would be playing Harris and Troy, <strong>Jacob<\/strong> and exec producer <strong>Brendan Brady<\/strong> shared a statement about their casting process.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-medium_large caption_belowImage credit_onImage mobile-image-full-width\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.justjared.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/rachel-selfie.jpg\" class=\"pss-trigger\" role=\"button\" data-pss-trigger=\"1\" aria-controls=\"pss-modal\" aria-label=\"Open gallery of 2 images.\" title=\"Open gallery of 2 images.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"788\" height=\"1365\" src=\"https:\/\/www.justjared.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/rachel-selfie-788x1365.jpg\" alt=\"Rachel Reid defends Harris &amp; Troy casting\" class=\"wp-image-2261822\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.justjared.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/rachel-selfie-788x1365.jpg 788w, https:\/\/www.justjared.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/rachel-selfie-428x741.jpg 428w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 430px) 100px, 100vw\"\/><span class=\"pss-trigger__badge\" aria-hidden=\"true\">2<\/span><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"\/><\/figure>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cFrom the start of the casting process, we knew we were looking for actors who could create something truly special together and bring that same depth and heart to the screen. <strong>Justice<\/strong> and <strong>Charlie<\/strong> do exactly that,\u201d the two TV execs said. \u201cThey immediately connected with the vulnerability and resilience at the core of these characters, bringing an instinctive understanding of who Harris and Troy are.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Season two of <em>Heated Rivalry<\/em> is confirmed to air in spring 2027. Based on the book series, find out which <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justjared.com\/2026\/08\/01\/heated-rivalry-season-2-cast-whos-returning-who-likely-wont-be-back-based-on-what-happens-in-the-long-game-book-2\/\">actors from season one are expected to return<\/a> for the new season!<\/p>\n<p class=\"categories single-categories\">Posted To:<a href=\"https:\/\/www.justjared.com\/tags\/charlie-gillespie\/\" rel=\"tag\">Charlie Gillespie<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justjared.com\/tags\/heated-rivalry\/\" rel=\"tag\">Heated Rivalry<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justjared.com\/tags\/justice-smith\/\" rel=\"tag\">Justice Smith<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justjared.com\/tags\/rachel-reid\/\" rel=\"tag\">Rachel Reid<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Credit: Getty Rachel Reid is defending the new Heated Rivalry actors. On Friday (August 7), it was announced that Justice Smith and Charlie Gillespie have been cast to play Harris Drover and Troy Barrett, respectively, in the second season of the hit Crave and HBO Max series. However, as soon as the news was announced,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32961,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.justjared.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/rachel-reid-defends-harris-troy-1200x675.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrity-gossip"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32960","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32960"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32960\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/32961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}