Season 2 of Hulu’s “Chad Powers” meant it was time to party forGlen Powell, who plays both disgraced college quarterback Russ Holliday and his prosthetically prominent quarterback alter ego, Chad Powers.
Like, literally party. For Powell, 37, that meant letting loose at a house party as his mysteriously mulleted, football savant quarterback Powers, who appears out of nowhere to star for the fictional football-starved powerhouse Georgia Catfish.
Powell and co-creator Michael Waldron would never have let Powers anywhere near a social function in Season 1. But in Season 2 (all six episodes streaming now on Hulu), Powers busts the moves – and busts out.
"In Season 1, Waldron and I were talking about, 'Hey, does Chad go to a party? And I'd say, 'No!
It's all about the wins and losses here. Everything has to be about the football,'" Powell tells USA TODAY. "But in Season 2, the stakes are higher if Chad doesn't go to this party. That puts on more heat. We had to justify it story-wise."
The result is a hilarious house party that leads to the team’s controlling booster, Tricia Yeager (Wynn Everett), partying it up with team mascot Danny Cruz (Frankie A. Rodriguez) while the preposterous-yet-proficient Powers busts moves on the line-dancing floor before joyously bumping and grinding in a scene not recommended for discerning viewers with dance skills.
The party started at 9 a.m. on the Atlanta set. No dance training was required.
"It was like, 'How would Chad Powers dance?' And then, 'Alright, let's do it!'" says Powell. "It's fun to just let the wheels come off and see what happens."
You could argue that any classic, prosthetic-heavy comedy needs an absurd dance scene (“Top Gun: Maverick” co-star Tom Cruise proved that with hisLes Grossman hip-hop routine in 2008’s “Tropic Thunder”). However, Powell's let-the-wheels-come-off ethos applies to all of “Chad Powers.”
The Hulu series is based entirely on a 2022 “Eli’s Places” skit, in which Eli Manning (now an executive producer) donned prosthetics and crashed Penn State football tryouts as a would-be walk-on quarterback. It was a hilarious bit that skeptics didn't think could last for three seasons of comedy.
However, even after expertly finessing filming Season 1 amid the post-“Top Gun: Maverick” movie frenzy surrounding Powell, the series quarterback vowed to return for Season 2 and beyond. That’s no small commitment for a six-episode comedy that requires Powell to spend at least an hour in the makeup chair getting prosthetic-ed into Powers before the shooting day even begins.
"It was such a silly, stupid premise that Waldron and I knew had depth," says Powell. "And it was almost a personal challenge to ourselves that we could actually pull this thing off."
“Chad Powers” has all the tools for TV comedy greatness, with a blue-chip supporting cast that includes the overbearing booster (Everett), assistant coach Ricky (Perry Mattfeld) and overlooked quarterback Gerry (Colton Ryan), who takes an evil turn this season. There's solid college football action, amid the laughs, that plays right to a rabid sports fanbase. And with Powell embracing – even contributing to – Chad Powers’ utter social inadequacies with the show's bizarre writing, the surprise laughs hit like a well-disguised blitz.
“Sometimes it’s just about joy. Not everything in this town has to be strategic,” says Powell of the outwardly goofy role, which hits the heartstrings and takes wild comedic detours in equal measure. “We sold this to Hulu with the intention of a three-season arc, and we always said, ‘Hey, we’re gonna take some pretty wild comedic swings.’”
Season 2 features the secretly disguised Powers going through a broody Batman phase dealing with his alter-personality and a Joker-esque jealous Catfish backup (Ryan).
"Here's the guy juggling these two identities with an antagonist trying to figure out who's behind the mask," says Waldron. "We really embraced the superhero story."
But mostly, Powers is a goofy football-firing fake coming to terms with his mask – one convincing enough that Powell can take the character into the real world. During filming, Powell stepped outside in full Powers prosthetics to a nearby coffee shop.
“You can tell who watches the show,” says Powell. “In some places I walk in, it’s like I’m a Disney character. They can’t believe I’m there in person."
But during one visit, one fellow customer seemed to find Powers hot, to Powell's surprise.
"It made me laugh because I started using the Chad voice and it did not in any way deter her at all," says Powell. "And I was like, 'Wait a minute, this is getting very weird where she's actually charmed by, literally, Chad Powers.'"
The star will come back for Season 3, he promises. It might be the end of the ride.
"One of Waldron's and my mutual pet peeves is TV that overstays its welcome. We have a strong, powerful ending in mind and I tend to like to stick to plans like that," says Powell. "But at the end of the day the story will unfold."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Chad Powers' Season 2 let Glen Powell go wild. He's got big plans for Season 3
