Connor Storrie's guest arc on Criminal Minds: Evolution proves he's a versatile actor ready to branch beyond romantic leads. The four-episode stint, filmed before Heated Rivalry premiered, shows his professional hustle and ability to book major roles during the industry's notorious gaps between projects.
Insiders whisper that Storrie's casting choice wasn't random — he specifically sought out darker material after being typecast as romantic interests. Sources close to the production say his character Lance Kingston was originally written with less screen time, but Storrie's chemistry readings earned him an expanded arc across multiple episodes.
Storrie's guest arc began June 11, 2026 and runs through at least two additional episodes beyond Thursday's broadcast. The exclusive clip shows his character unconscious with visible branding marks from torture scenes that occurred in the previous episode. He is 26 years old.
Connor Storrie's bloody return to television proves he's not content being anyone's romantic prop — but whether audiences will embrace him as more than Ilya Rozanov remains to be seen.
Remember when Connor Storrie was just a hockey romance heartthrob? Those days are officially over. The Heated Rivalry breakout is back on Criminal Minds: Evolution this week, and let's just say his character Lance Kingston didn't make it out of episode five intact.
An exclusive clip released Wednesday shows the 26-year-old actor's fate looking decidedly grim — unconscious, branded, and at the mercy of whoever put him through hell in last week's installment. The timing here is deliciously ironic. Storrie filmed this Criminal Minds guest arc last year after wrapping Heated Rivalry but before that hockey romance drama ever hit screens on Canadian streamer Crave (and HBO Max in the U.S.).
So while audiences are just now catching up with his Ilya Rozanov character — the Russia-born Boston Raiders player navigating a near-decade-long situationship-turned-relationship with Canada's Shane Hollander — Storrie was already deep into playing torture victim. That's what you call having range, or at least having a very active agent. And what a year it's been for Storrie since Heated Rivalry exploded onto the scene.
The show, created by Tierney and based on Reid's romance novels set in a fictional hockey universe, turned him and co-star Hudson Williams into certified stars. They've presented at the Golden Globes, served as torchbearers in the 2026 Olympic Torch Relay, attended the Met Gala — you know, typical Tuesday activities for guys who were playing minor league hockey drama six months ago. But now Storrie is trading that glossy lifestyle for something considerably grimmer.
His four-episode guest arc on Criminal Minds: Evolution's nineteenth season continues Thursday and extends into next week's seventh episode, meaning audiences get to watch Storrie suffer across multiple installments before presumably meeting whatever fate awaits Lance Kingston. The show has already renewed Heated Rivalry for a second season — shooting this summer with a spring 2027 target release — while author Reid announced the seventh book in the Game Changers series, Unrivaled, dropping June 2027.
But between now and then, Storrie's schedule apparently includes being unconscious on a regular basis. For those keeping score at home: Heated Rivalry season two will adapt The Long Game (the next chapter in Shane and Ilya's story) alongside the fifth book in Reid's series, Role Model. Meanwhile, Storrie's current television run represents his first onscreen appearance since Heated Rivalry premiered — a calculated pivot toward darker material that suggests he's well aware of the typecasting trap waiting for breakout stars. Whether audiences are ready to see their favorite hockey romance lead bloodied and bound remains to be seen when Thursday's episode drops.
