How ‘Heated Rivalry’ and ‘Bridgerton’ brought the spice back to TV – after Gen Z didn’t want it

They’re bringing sexy back. 

In recent years, it’s been the common consensus that sex in media was on the decline, in part because Gen Z reportedly didn’t want it onscreen – but with the success of “Heated Rivalry” and the return of  “Bridgerton,” it’s having a renaissance. 

Vanessa Coffey, for her part, has “seen the rise of intimacy onscreen” over the years. The intimacy coordinator has previously worked on “Outlander” and “House of the Dragon.”

Coffey said that she hopes that when she — or fellow intimacy coordinators — are around, actors “feel safe to take risks” which then allows the audience to feel “okay about taking the risk of watching something where they know actors haven’t been exploited, and this is part of a story, actually.”  

She cited the shows she worked on, as well as the British show “Rivals,” “Euphoria,” and the film “Wuthering Heights,” as examples of shows and movies where sex is alive and well. 

In recent years, that’s been called into question. 

In 2023, a viral study surveyed Gen-Z and found that  51.5% of them asked for less sex and more platonic friendship, onscreen.

For the last decade and change, superhero movies have also dominated the box office –featuring lots of CGI, fight scenes and stars with gym-sculpted physiques, but few raunchy moments. A viral 2021 essay about superhero flicks even proclaimed, “everyone is beautiful and no one is horny.”

That all seemed to change this year, however.

Superheroes are still big in the box office (2025’s “Superman” grossed over $600 million globally) but the public has also embraced steamier fare, such as “Sinners,” starring Michael B. Jordan (which has grossed over $300 million at the global box office and features several raunchy moments) and “Wuthering Heights” starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi (which surpassed $100 million at the global box office and features lots of risque scenes). 

The biggest moment came in November, when the Canadian show “Heated Rivalry” hit HBO Max and became a phenomenon. Starring Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie as pro-hockey rivals who fall into bed together countless times, the show made its cast overnight stars, surpassed 10 million viewers, and became HBO Max’s most-watched acquired scripted series of all time.

“People have been watching that in droves,” Coffey said, referring to “Heated Rivalry.” 

She added, “I think kissing, sex, all of that stuff is really huge, and people want to see naturalistic and sometimes romantic depictions of what that is, or what that should be.”

Brooke Haney, an intimacy coordinator who has worked on shows like “Mayor of Kingstown” and movies like “Ponyboi” starring Dylan O’Brien, noted that she used to work as an acting professor at Marymount Manhattan College, where she observed that her Gen Z students “just didn’t want to be lied to.”

She added “they were no-nonsense,” and just wanted something “real.” 

In popular shows such as “Heated Rivalry” and “Bridgerton,” there is an “authenticity in those stories that we don’t often get to see,” she said. 

For instance, she cited how in “Bridgerton” Season 4, Francesca (Hannah Dodd) discusses her inability to have an orgasm, and in “Heated Rivalry,” it shows “a more authentic representation of queer sex, and we rarely get to see that.”

So despite earlier reports that the state of intimacy onscreen was called into questions, it’s flourishing, experts said.

“I think that’s what people really want,” she said. 

“[Audiences] are less interested in just sex for sex’s sake, but very interested in, ‘show me something new.’”