Chad Powers

Chad Powers is an American sports comedy television series created by Glen Powell and Michael Waldron, starring Powell in the titular role. Developed from an Omaha Productions skit by Eli Manning, the show follows Russ Holliday after he disgraces himself on the field while serving as a star quarterback at a major college program.^[1] After ruining his reputation, Holliday undergoes a physical transformation, with the help of prosthetics and a wig, to disguise his identity in order to join the floundering football team at a small school under the name of Chad Powers.

Chad Powers
Promotional Cover (Hulu)
Genre	Comedy
Created by	Glen Powell & Michael Waldron
Based on	Eli's Places Segment by ESPN Omaha Productions
Starring	Glen Powell Perry Mattfeld Quentin Plair Wynn Everett Frankie Rodriguez Steve Zahn
Music by	Natalie Holt
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	6
Production
Executive producers	Michael Waldron Adam Fasullo Glen Powell Eli Manning Peyton Manning Jamie Horowitz Ben Brown Burke Magnus Brian Lockhart Kati Fernandez Tony Yacenda Luvh Rakhe
Producer	Alex Orr
Cinematography	Mark Schwartzbard Jeffrey Waldron
Editors	Patrick Tuck Max Koepke Julio Perez
Running time	27–40 minutes
Production companies	Anomaly Pictures Barnstorm ESPN Omaha Productions 20th Television
Original release
Network	Hulu
Release	September 30, 2025 (2025-09-30) – present

The cast includes Steve Zahn, Toby Huss, Perry Mattfeld, Clayne Crawford, Wynn Everett, Frankie A. Rodriguez, Colton Ryan, Keese Wilson, Xavier Mills and Quentin Plair. It premiered on Hulu on September 30, 2025.

Cast

Main

• Glen Powell as Russ Holliday, former arrogant, narcissistic college football quarterback whose career has been nuked after disgracing himself in a championship game. He disguises himself as the titular Chad Powers to start over as a walk-on player for a college team.^[2]
• Perry Mattfeld as Ricky Hudson, the offensive assistant coach of the South Georgia Catfish and Jake's daughter
• Quentin Plair as Coach Byrd
• Wynn Everett as Tricia,^[2] the chair of the booster trust
• Frankie Rodriguez as Danny, the team's mascot who helps Russ with his disguise
• Steve Zahn as Jake Hudson, the head coach of the South Georgia Catfish

Recurring

• Toby Huss as Mike Holliday^[3]
• Clayne Crawford as Coach Dobbs,^[3] the quarterback coach of the South Georgia Catfish
• Colton Ryan as Gerry^[3]
• Keese Wilson as Rod
• Xavier Mills as Nishan^[3]

Notable guest stars

• Haliey Welch as herself^[4][5]
• Eli Manning as Ole Miss Coach
• Megan Ketch as Wendy, wife of Jake Hudson^[6]

Episodes

No.	Title [7]	Directed by	Written by	Original release date [7]	Prod. code
1	"1st Quarter"	Tony Yacenda	Glen Powell & Michael Waldron	September 30, 2025 (2025-09-30)	1NJK01
Russ Holliday rushes to a touchdown as a star collegiate quarterback. He inadvertently drops the ball before the end zone, however, leading the opposing team to grab the ball and win the championship game. A distraught Russ gets into an altercation with a fan on the sidelines, tipping the fan over a boy in a wheelchair who has cancer. Eight years later, his reputation ruined, Russ leads a free-wheeling life but desires to get back into athletics. He uses materials from his makeup artist father to disguise his identity and masquerade as quarterback Chad Powers while trying out for the football team of a small college in Georgia. Danny, who plays the team's mascot (a catfish), offers to help Russ with the ruse. Russ impresses the coaches, and he briefly connects with Ricky, an assistant coach and daughter of the head coach, Jake Hudson. Russ admits that he isn't enrolled after being offered a spot, but the coach tells him to come back and register with his birth certificate, driver's license, and transcripts.
2	"2nd Quarter"	Tony Yacenda	Michael Waldron & Paloma Lamb	September 30, 2025 (2025-09-30)	1NJK02
Russ obtains a fake id with the help of Danny. On the team, Chad is competing against the earnest and friendly Gerry for the position of starting quarterback. Coach Hudson tells Chad to show leadership and invites him to a team barbecue at his house. A pool party and water balloon fight ensue, posing a risk for Chad's disguise. Meanwhile, Ricky is embarrassed about being seen as the coach's daughter. Chad receives the news that Hudson has chosen Gerry as the starter.
3	"3rd Quarter"	Payman Benz	Jamie Lee	October 7, 2025 (2025-10-07)	1NJK03
In the first game of the season, Chad stays on the sidelines as a backup while Gerry takes the quarterback position. The team plays poorly, with Gerry struggling to make passes. Ricky presents an idea to turn the game around that would involve replacing Gerry with Chad. Her ideas are dismissed by the other coaches, and she is told to get off the field. Danny, playing the mascot, purposefully trips Gerry, taking him out of the game with an injury. Left with no choice, Hudson puts Chad in the game. Chad manages to score his first touchdown for the Catfish. In the final play, Chad decides to ignore the coaches' strategy in favor of Ricky's play, enabling the Catfish to win. Instead of celebrating with the team, Chad goes to find Ricky and shares a moment with her.
4	"4th Quarter"	Payman Benz	Ben Dougan	October 14, 2025 (2025-10-14)	1NJK04
The Catfish are in Knoxville the night before a game. Russ needs to obtain glue for his disguise before curfew at 11 pm. He and Danny steal a cheerleader's car to search for the glue. They end up at the hospital after Russ cuts his hand. He and Danny fight, leading Danny to leave. Russ steals medical adhesive from the hospital to use in the disguise and rushes back to the hotel. There, Ricky recognizes him as Russ Holliday. They chat, and he tells her to reconcile with her dad. Danny covers for Russ on the curfew check, and having reconciled, they make the Chad Power's disguise. After the game the next day, Ricky looks up Russ on her phone, seeing that he is out of the public eye.
5	"5th Quarter"	Tony Yacenda	Jordan Mendoza	October 21, 2025 (2025-10-21)	1NJK05
Chad has an awkward interview with College Gameday, who are in South Georgia, featuring the 5-0 Catfish. Frustrated with the double life, Russ goes to a bar and hooks up with a woman who approaches him. The woman tells Russ that everybody deserves to be happy, which influences Russ to lean further into the Chad Powers persona. The next day, Chad goes to Coach Hudson's lakehouse for a new interview, where he learns that the woman from the bar was Hudson's wife, Wendy. During the interview, Wendy expresses frustration with Hudson's total commitment to football rather than their marriage, which leads to a fight and ends the interview. During the fight, Wendy admits she had an affair with Russ Holliday the night before. After Wendy leaves, Hudson begins to have a heart attack.
6	"6th Quarter"	Michael Waldron	Luvh Rakhe & Gaelyn Golde	October 28, 2025 (2025-10-28)	1NJK06
While Coach Hudson suffers a heart attack, Chad realizes he must drive him to the hospital in his Cybertruck. Ricky, upon seeing the vehicle, realizes that Chad is really Russ Holliday. At practice, Ricky removes Chad's armband, revealing an arm tattoo that Russ is known to have. Chad leaves practice and tells Danny that he's been caught and is leaving the team. Danny convinces Chad to drive to Atlanta, where his dad is working on a movie. Russ's father is impressed by his hard work to pull off the disguise and encourages him to show up for the game against top-ranked Georgia. Ricky goes to the hospital to visit Hudson, who remains excited that they are contenders for the National Championship because of Chad. Russ, in his Chad persona, shows up to the game and attempts to talk to Ricky. Ricky does not forgive him and threatens to expose Chad unless he quits the team. Russ calls her bluff, stating that revealing him as Chad would ruin her father's career. Chad shows up for the game, which encourages the team, except for Gerry, who is furious.

Production

Chad Powers was created by Glen Powell and Michael Waldron and received a series order from Hulu in February 2024. It is based on Eli Manning's character from Eli's Places.^[2] Eli and Peyton Manning were involved in the show's production, assisting in securing football arenas and props for filming.^[1] They also provided guidance to Powell on authentically portraying a star quarterback. Filming began in late August 2024.^[8] Natalie Holt composed the score of the series.^[9] Patrick Tuck served as editor.^[10]

Release

Chad Powers premiered on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+ in the United States, and on Disney+ internationally, on September 30, 2025. The first two episodes were released simultaneously, with subsequent episodes debuting weekly.^[11]

Reception

Viewership

Chad Powers ranked No. 1 on both Disney+ and Hulu's top lists—daily updated lists of the platforms' most-watched titles—following its premiere.^[12] TVision, which tracks viewer attention, program reach, and engagement across more than 1,000 CTV apps, reported that the series was the fourth most-streamed program in the U.S. between September 29 and October 12.^[13][14] Whip Media, which tracks viewership data for the more than 25 million worldwide users of its TV Time app, announced that Chad Powers ranked among the ten most-streamed original shows in the U.S. from the week ending October 12 through October 19.^[15][16]

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the series holds an approval rating of 57% based on 47 reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "Pairing Glen Powell's charms with a frequently off-putting role, Chad Powers throws comedic curveballs that often backfire but don't necessarily strike out, either."^[17] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, gave a score of 53 out of 100 based on 26 critics, indicating "mixed or average".^[18]

Stuart Heritage of The Guardian awarded 4 out of 5 stars to season one, with praise for Powell's performance and the show's exploration of identity.^[19] Heritage wrote: "It's a funny, touching, deliberately uncomfortable character piece with one of the most magnetic central performances in recent memory." Alex Kirshner of Slate viewed the show as successfully balancing absurdity and humor, while building a fictional college football world that feels engaging despite its implausible premise.^[20]

In a mostly negative review for Vulture, critic Nicholas Quah described the show as largely "a cynical corporate experiment, engineered within an inch of its life", while noting that the show occasionally breaks through with flashes of heart and Powell's charisma.^[21] Alison Herman of Variety wrote that the season felt rushed, without time to fully develop or explore the dynamics between characters, particularly the relationship between Russ and his father.^[22] Herman also found that while Chad Powers shares tonal and structural similarities with Ted Lasso, it lacks the depth and emotional development that contributed to Ted Lasso's resonance.^[23]