Trace How Heated Rivalry Crossed From Crave to HBO Max

The Canadian side of the deal

Crave is the streaming service owned by Bell Media. Jacob Tierney created the series, and Accent Aigu Entertainment produces it with Crave, supported by the Canada Media Fund and the Bell Fund, according to Bell Media's renewal announcement. International sales run through Sphere Abacus, a UK-based distributor that came aboard in March 2025. Wikipedia puts the budget at just under CA$3 million per episode.

The big decisions come from here. Crave renewed the show on December 12, 2025, two weeks after launch, calling it its number one original series debut on record, with viewing up nearly 400 percent since November 28.

The American side

HBO Max's U.S. and Australia deal was announced on November 19, 2025, only nine days before the premiere, per Wikipedia. That was just enough runway for a same-day debut in both countries. Variety Australia put the arrangement plainly: "HBO Max will continue to license the series for its second season without producing."

The licence then grew. Bell Media says HBO Max added Asia, Latin America and Europe, excluding the U.K., Ireland, Spain and Turkey, while NEON carries it in New Zealand. TheWrap reported Movistar+ in Spain and Sky in the U.K. and Ireland.

The buyer did well too. TheWrap called it HBO Max's "top debut for an acquired, non-animated title since the platform's launch." For a show made on a Canadian budget, that is a lovely underdog line, and I suspect it made someone in Toronto very happy.

Why the difference matters to you

It tells you where the choices happen. Casting, scripts and renewal come out of Canada, not Burbank. It also explains how the show looks. Season 1 was shot in 36 days across Ontario and Quebec, with the hockey filmed at the Sleeman Centre in Guelph. A castle in Hamilton standing in for Russia is exactly the kind of resourceful fix a lean production makes, and I find it charming.

There is a practical upside for viewers, too. Because HBO Max is a licensee rather than the studio, the show's future does not hinge on an American network's appetite for a small Canadian romance. Crave decides whether there is a season 3. HBO Max decides whether to keep buying it, and after that debut record, the incentive runs in one clear direction.

And it explains the growth story. Wikipedia reports weekly viewing on Crave climbing from 30 million to 324 million streaming minutes by the finale, which is the sort of number that keeps a licensing partner signing.

What this means for season 2 in the U.S.

HBO Max holds season 2 rights in the U.S. and Australia, and the premiere window is spring 2027. We could not find an exact date, or any confirmation that Crave and HBO Max will launch on the same day again. Season 1 did. That is a good sign, not a promise.

The new season films in Toronto with new faces, including Shaheen Jafargholi as Fabian Salah, profiled in our main piece, and Daniel Diemer as Ryan Price, whose book romance is set up here. So keep watching on HBO Max. You are just watching a Canadian show that crossed the border by contract, with a castle in Hamilton still enjoying its one great role.