EXCLUSIVE: How’s this for range? Jacob Tierney, creator of the wildly popular contemporary gay romance Heated Rivalry, will be tackling ancient male friendship — and mentorship — next. Netflix has given a straight-to-series order to Alexander, a drama about the teen years of Alexander the Great from Tierney and fellow Heated Rivalry executive producer Brendan Brady as well as Jason Bateman and Michael Costigan of Aggregate Films.
Like Canadian hockey drama Heated Rivalry, which was based on Rachel Reid’s novels and on which Tierney wrote and directed all six Season 1 episodes, he also will write and direct Alexander, an adaptation of the 2009 novel The Golden Mean by another Canadian author, Annabel Lyon.
In Alexander, as the Athenian empire crumbles, the world’s greatest mind, Aristotle, arrives in Macedonia to tutor a volatile young prince Alexander. Amid palace intrigue, forbidden love, brutal war and ruthless ambitions, their unlikely friendship shapes an empire and alters the course of history.
Tierney and Brady executive produce for Accent Aigu Entertainment; Costigan and Bateman for Aggregate Films.
“Jacob Tierney is one of the most exciting, in-demand creative voices working today, and we are thrilled to work with him on Alexander,” said Jinny Howe, Netflix Head of US and Canada Scripted Series. “We were immediately captivated by his vision for adapting Annabel Lyon’s acclaimed novel. This series reimagines the classic power struggle between mentor and protégé with a raw, modern energy that feels both epic and incredibly intimate. This high-stakes drama is poised to deeply resonate with our global audience, and we look forward to bringing it to life with the deftly talented Jason Bateman and the Aggregate Films team.”
Tierney wrote two scripts for Alexander on spec, I hear. In the wake of the massive global success of Heated Rivalry, which turned the Canadian writer-director-producer into one of the most sought-after TV creators, the project, with Aggregate attached, was taken to Netflix where Bateman’s company has a deal. The streamer quickly snapped it with a series order out of Netflix US.
“I fell in love with Annabel Lyon’s book The Golden Mean years ago and have been dreaming of telling this story ever since,” Tierney said. “Brendan and I couldn’t be more excited to be partnering with Aggregate and Netflix to bring this insanely compelling world to life.”
Commissioned by Canadian streamer Crave, Heated Rivalry follows rival pro hockey players Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie) and Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) whose secret fling evolves into a years-long journey of love, denial and self-discovery. The romantic drama hit a cord with audiences worldwide, scoring 10.6M average viewers per episodes on HBO Max in the U.S. alone. It became a cultural phenomenon and media darling, quickly earning a Season 2 renewal by Crave with HBO Max on board for U.S, Australia and other territories.
Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie in ‘Heated Rivalry’
Sabrina Lantos/Crave
Appearing on CBS Mornings last week, Tierney and Brady said that they are hard at work on the second season, which will begin filming in August for a projected April 2027 release date.
Heated Rivalry marks the first series for Accent Aigu Entertainment, which was founded by Tierney and Brady. Prior to that, Tierney co-developed, co-wrote and directed every episode of Crave’s long-running comedy series Letterkenny, earning multiple Canadian Screen Awards, and also directed Seasons 1 and 2 of spinoff Shoresy. He is repped by CAA, Canada’s GGA and Hansen, Jacobson, Teller.
At Netflix, Aggregate Films has produced the series Ozark and Black Rabbit, both starring Bateman, as well as two films, Richard Linklater’s Hit Man and Aline Brosch McKenna’s Your Place or Mine. The company is repped by CAA and Lighthouse Management + Media.
Lyon’s The Golden Mean won Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize. A sequel, The Sweet Girl, about Aristotle’s daughter, Pythias, was published in 2012. Lyon is repped by Untitled Entertainment and Jackie Kaiser at Westwood Creative Artists.