{"id":36173,"date":"2026-08-10T09:04:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-10T04:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=36173"},"modified":"2026-08-10T09:04:00","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T04:04:00","slug":"justice-smith-addresses-fans-on-heated-rivalry-harris-drover-casting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=36173","title":{"rendered":"Justice Smith Addresses Fans On &#8216;Heated Rivalry&#8217; Harris Drover Casting"},"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>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The casting of most beloved literary characters in screen adaptation inevitably creates online discourse as fans of the books have their own preconceived notions for what the characters should look like. <em><a href=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/tag\/heated-rivalry\/\" id=\"auto-tag_heated-rivalry\" data-tag=\"heated-rivalry\">Heated Rivalry<\/a><\/em> is no exception, with<a href=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/2026\/08\/heated-rivalry-justice-smith-charlie-gillespie-harris-troy-1237028622\/\"> the announcement on Friday<\/a> that <a href=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/tag\/justice-smith\/\" id=\"auto-tag_justice-smith\" data-tag=\"justice-smith\">Justice Smith<\/a> and Charlie Gillespie will play Harris Drover and Troy Barrett, respectively, in Season 2 of the hugely popular series based on Rachel Reid\u2019s <em>Game Changer <\/em>books, triggering a strong reaction. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Smith appeared to address the discourse on his Instagram Story.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI am moved by the support and love I\u2019m getting from fans in my dms, fans who have welcomed me with open arms and who already feel a responsibility to protect me.\u201d <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The protecting part is likely a reference to negative comments posted online, a lot of them pointed at Smith\u2019s casting.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI am honored to play a character that you all care about deeply and I promise that I will take good care of him if you give me the chance,\u201d he wrote, adding, \u201cI am beyond excited for the experience.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The negative online response to the Harris and Troy castings also prompted Reid<a href=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/2026\/08\/heated-rivalry-author-dismiss-negative-reactions-season-2-casting-1237029395\/\"> to remind fans<\/a> that Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams \u2014 now loved around the world for their portrayal of Ilya Rozanov and Shane Hollander, respectively \u2014 weren\u2019t an easy sell either.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThinking about all the people last summer who told me the casting for llya and Shane was wrong and bad\u2026,\u201d Reid wrote on her Instagram Story.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Harris Drover and Troy Barrett are the central couple in<em> Role Model, <\/em>the fifth book in Reid\u2019s bestselling <em>Game Changer<\/em> series, which is being used as source material for Season 2 alongside the Ilya and Shane follow-up book, <em>The Long Game.<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Troy is a hockey player on Ilya\u2019s team with a history of bullying, while Harris is the team\u2019s cheerful social media manager,<\/p>\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,\u201d <em>Heated Rivalry<\/em> creator Jacob Tierney and fellow executive producer Brendan Brady said on Friday about the search for Harris and Troy. \u201cJustice and Charlie do exactly that. They 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<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"1024\" width=\"578\" src=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/JustinSmithIG.jpg?w=578\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1237029848\" srcset=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/JustinSmithIG.jpg 796w, https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/JustinSmithIG.jpg?resize=85,150 85w, https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/JustinSmithIG.jpg?resize=169,300 169w, https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/JustinSmithIG.jpg?resize=578,1024 578w, https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/JustinSmithIG.jpg?resize=56,100 56w, https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/JustinSmithIG.jpg?resize=34,60 34w, https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/JustinSmithIG.jpg?resize=264,468 264w, https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/JustinSmithIG.jpg?resize=127,225 127w, https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/JustinSmithIG.jpg?resize=93,165 93w, https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/JustinSmithIG.jpg?resize=241,428 241w, https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/JustinSmithIG.jpg?resize=135,240 135w, https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/JustinSmithIG.jpg?resize=271,480 271w, https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/JustinSmithIG.jpg?resize=542,960 542w, https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/JustinSmithIG.jpg?resize=338,600 338w, https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/JustinSmithIG.jpg?resize=677,1200 677w, https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/JustinSmithIG.jpg?resize=433,768 433w\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 87.5rem) 1000px, (min-width: 78.75rem) 681px, (min-width: 48rem) 450px, (max-width: 48rem) 250px\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The casting of most beloved literary characters in screen adaptation inevitably creates online discourse as fans of the books have their own preconceived notions for what the characters should look like. Heated Rivalry is no exception, with the announcement on Friday that Justice Smith and Charlie Gillespie will play Harris Drover and Troy Barrett, respectively,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36174,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/P10SGPU-e1762723054883.jpg?w=1024","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pics-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36173","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=36173"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36173\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/36174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=36173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=36173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=36173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}