Prime Video’s Red, White & Royal Wedding Begins Filming, Drawing Comparisons to Heated Rivalry
Prime Video’s movie series that has drawn comparisons to Heated Rivalry begins filming for the sequel. The hit HBO series follows gay hockey players Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) and Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie) as they navigate their secret romance and play for rival teams. Now, production has begun on Red, White & Royal Wedding, Prime Video’s own gay romance story of rivals becoming lovers.
The first movie, Red, White & Royal Blue came to the streaming platform in 2023. The sequel was officially greenlit in October 2025, with Nicholas Galitzine and Taylor Zakhar Perez reprising their respective roles as the British Prince Henry and the son of the U.S. President, Alex Claremont-Diaz. On Instagram, the Red, White & Blue page posted a video of Galitzine and Perez on set. Galitzine welcomes fans back while Perez clarifies that Henry and Alex are not getting married in the sequel.
Plot and Cast Details
He instead reveals that the story will feature the wedding of Henry’s sister, Princess Beatrice (Ellie Bamber). Check out the video below: Galitzine, Perez, and Sarah Shahi are the only confirmed members of the Red, White & Royal Wedding cast, although the plot largely revolving around Bea’s wedding makes it highly likely that Bamber will be back as well. It is unknown if U.S. President Ellen Claremont (Uma Thurman), Congressman Oscar Diaz (Clifton Collins Jr.), Alex’s best friend, Nora Holleran (Rachel Hilson), or other key characters and actors from the first movie will return.
Just as Heated Rivalry is based on a popular book series, Red, White & Royal Blue was adapted from a novel of the same name. There isn’t a sequel book for the new movie to follow, although there is a bonus chapter in the collector’s edition that has Henry and Alex engaged and planning a wedding. While they will likely help plan Bea’s wedding, being engaged does not seem to be part of the new story.
Nicholas Galitzine as Prince Henry and Taylor Zakhar Perez as Alex smiliing next to each other in Red White and Royal Blue
Reception and Similarities to Heated Rivalry
With a “Certified Fresh” 75% critics’ score and a 92% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, Red, White & Royal Blue’s reviews were mostly positive and largely praised the queer representation in the romantic comedy. Given some of the similar praise and themes in Heated Rivalry, Williams and Storrie were asked on CTV’s ETalk what a double date between their characters and Henry and Alex would be like.
Storrie quipped that the prince and son of the U.S. president are “definitely a lot more highfalutin than we are” and suggested that Shane and Ilya might have a “culture clash” with them. There is no release date yet for Red, White, & Royal Wedding, but a 2026 debut is possible since filming has already begun. Since Heated Rivalry season 2 is not planned to come out until 2027, the upcoming Prime Video sequel movie can help ease the wait.
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Red, White & Royal Blue 2
Runtime
0 MinutesDirector
Matthew LopezWriters
Matthew Lopez, Casey McQuiston
