‘Chad Powers’ Season 1 Recap Sets the Stage for Glen Powell’s Hulu Return
Hulu’s college football comedy ‘Chad Powers’ wrapped its first season by leaning fully into the mess its title character created for himself. What began as a lighthearted disguise premise built around a disgraced quarterback finding his footing again ended with consequences that follow directly into the show’s second run.
The series stars Glen Powell in a dual role, playing both Russ Holliday, a talented but self destructive college football player, and Chad Powers, the folksy alter ego Russ invents to sneak back onto a football field. The concept expands on an “Eli’s Places” sketch in which Eli Manning wore facial prosthetics to become an unrecognizable football player.
What Happened in ‘Chad Powers’ Season 1
The season opens with Russ Holliday at the peak of his college career, only to watch it collapse in an instant. Russ is shown at the height of his run during the fourth quarter of the Rose Bowl, appearing ready to score the winning touchdown before he celebrates too early and drops the ball short of the end zone. He compounds the disaster by punching a fan on the sideline, and afterward no team is willing to sign him.
With his name now treated as toxic around football programs, Russ makes a drastic decision. His father, who works professionally as a prosthetics artist, tells him plainly that his playing career is finished and urges him to move on with his life. Instead, Russ uses those same prosthetics to build a new identity and talk his way into open tryouts.
That plan almost falls apart before it starts. Russ is mistaken for a threat by the school’s mascot while sneaking around campus in disguise, and the two eventually reveal themselves to each other, sparking an unlikely friendship. The mascot, Danny Cruz, recognizes Russ almost immediately, offers to help him with the makeup, and gives him advice on playing the opposite of himself once he steps onto the field as this new persona.
Russ still needs a name for the character before tryouts begin, and the answer comes almost by accident. Assistant coach Ricky nearly turns him away at registration, but he settles on the name Chad Powers on the spot, and the disguise holds up well enough for him to make the roster.
Russ Holliday’s Secret Identity Begins to Unravel
The season’s later episodes shift away from pure comedy and toward the personal cost of the lie Russ is maintaining. In the penultimate episode, Ricky is desperately trying to get help for her father, and Russ chooses to risk exposing part of his secret rather than let her handle the emergency alone. He shows up to help, drives them to the hospital, and offers an explanation so implausible that Ricky clearly does not believe it.
That moment sets up a finale built around fallout rather than another disguise gag. The season closer shifts its focus onto Russ’s secret directly, giving that storyline the strongest treatment it receives all season, including scenes between Russ and his father that highlight how much he has changed. One recurring throughline is how much the people closest to Russ, particularly his father and Danny, actively help him sustain the deception rather than push him to come clean.
Critics reviewing the finale noted it as a turning point for the series rather than a tidy wrap up. Coverage of the season summed it up bluntly, describing it as fun and games until it wasn’t, with the arc converging toward a conclusion that honors the characters’ growth while setting up further storytelling. Writers also pointed to the show’s handling of identity, ambition, and fame in a digital age, noting it approached those themes with nuance instead of turning preachy.
How ‘Chad Powers’ Season 1 Sets Up Season 2
Season one ends with Russ’s cover only partially blown, and that specific complication becomes the entire premise of what follows. Season 2 focuses on the fallout from the reveal of Russ Holliday’s true identity and how he navigates his relationships with Coach Hudson and Gerry as a result. Rather than resetting the story back to square one, the show appears intent on letting the truth spread slowly instead of disappearing.
Did you like season 1 of 'Chad Powers?'
That shift changes the tone of Ricky’s role going forward. Because Ricky already knows the truth by the end of season one, season two pulls her further into the scheme, as Russ and Danny need her cooperation to keep Chad eligible and push the Catfish toward the College Football Playoff. It is a more complicated position for her character than simply being fooled the way she was for most of the first season.
The stakes on the field are rising just as fast as the stakes off it. The season two trailer shows Chad becoming a legitimate football star while his increasingly strange behavior starts drawing suspicion from Coach Hudson and Gerry, adding pressure on Russ to keep his disguise intact. The new season effectively moves Russ’s disguise from an underdog experiment into a winning formula that is now far more dangerous to protect.
The Cast Returning for ‘Chad Powers’ Season 2
Most of the ensemble that carried season one is back for the follow up. Hulu has confirmed Powell, Perry Mattfeld, Quentin Plair, Wynn Everett, Frankie A. Rodriguez, and Steve Zahn as the returning principal cast. Colin Woodell, Gillian Jacobs, Carey O’Donnell, and Nate Varrone join as guest stars, with Woodell playing a wealthy Catfish alumnus named Jay and Jacobs playing Gerry’s sister, Jerri Dougan.
Behind the camera, the creative team driving the show remains unchanged. ‘Chad Powers’ is co-created by Powell and showrunner Michael Waldron, with Eli Manning and Peyton Manning among the executive producers. That continuity matters given how tightly season two’s plot is tied to decisions made in the freshman season.
Season two arrives with a full episode drop rather than a weekly rollout, a notable change from how season one was released. Season one originally debuted with its first two episodes before new installments continued weekly. Season two instead premieres on September 3, 2026, with all six episodes available at once, matching the six episode length of the first season.
With Russ Holliday’s double life now considerably harder to hide, viewers who followed the first season have plenty to weigh in on before the new episodes land, from whether Ricky should have exposed him outright to how long the Catfish can realistically keep winning with a starting quarterback who barely exists on paper.
