If you chat with Glen Powell and Michael Waldron, two big college football fans, expect them to ask you which team you support – especially if they find out about their new show, “Chad Powers.” They might even ask you even if the conversation doesn’t start with sports!
The new Hulu comedy, “Chad Powers,” stars Nate Powell as Russ Holliday, a former college football player haunted by a costly error. Eight years prior, he prematurely celebrated a touchdown, resulting in a turnover and a loss in the Rose Bowl. Looking for a fresh start, Russ attempts a comeback by walking onto a college football team. However, he does so in disguise, using heavy prosthetics and adopting the fabricated persona of “Chad Powers.” The inspiration for this elaborate deception came from seeing a billboard for “Mrs. Doubtfire” near the Fox Studios, leading him to pilfer facial prosthetics from his father-an Academy Award-winning makeup artist.
He gets to experience his prime again, now playing as the starting quarterback for the made-up South Georgia Catfish team.
If that idea rings a bell, it’s because the show is inspired by a popular online video starring former NFL great Eli Manning. In the video, he secretly tries out as a walk-on quarterback at Penn State. To pull off the prank, he uses makeup, a wig, changes his voice, and adopts a strange persona – thus, Chad Powers is created. The original video was part of “Eli’s Places,” an ESPN+ series made by NFL Films and Omaha Productions, the production company owned by the Manning brothers.
When Omaha Productions started thinking about how to bring Peyton Manning’s idea to life as a scripted series, I knew right away that Powell and Waldron were the ones to do it. They weren’t interested in just another typical sports show, though. As Powell told me over Zoom (his username was adorably “Glenjamin Button”), they were aiming for something truly special – they wanted to create the greatest football experience ever, whether on the big screen or on TV, and make it feel incredibly authentic and full of heart.
“We’re aiming to give college football fans a deeper look at the stories, players, and personalities they enjoy each Saturday,” Powell explained. “These aren’t ideas we’re making up; they’re inspired by our own passion for the game.”
In ‘Chad Powers,’ Glen Powell puts on a silly face and suspends all seriousness
Glen Powell, who developed the series alongside Michael Waldron, plays a former football quarterback who pretends to be someone else in order to rejoin a college team.
Since his successful lead role in 2022’s Top Gun: Maverick, Powell has been working incredibly hard. He teamed up with Waldron – the creator of the Marvel series “Loki” and the well-received show “Heels” – to co-create and co-write this new series. The production also involved contributions from Omaha Productions, with Eli and Peyton Manning, as well as ESPN.
The first two episodes of “Chad Powers” became available on Hulu on Tuesday, with new episodes released each week until October 28th. Powell and Waldron discussed the making of the series on Monday, including their collaboration with the Manning brothers, the appearance of the “Hawk Tuah Girl,” and their commitment to creating a show that resonated with college football fans – just like themselves. They really wanted to get it right.
Just don’t bring up the recent game between Waldron’s Georgia Bulldogs and Alabama’s Crimson Tide. Powell, who is a loyal Texas Longhorn fan, playfully told him: “It was frustrating to see Alabama defeat you at home, especially before Texas had a chance to do the same.” This conversation has been edited for both clarity and to keep it concise.
As a huge fan of “Mrs. Doubtfire”, it felt like a really logical next step after Eli’s hilarious Chad Powers character. But I’m genuinely curious – what sparked the idea to make the guy *behind* Chad someone who’d been “canceled”? It’s such an interesting layer to the whole thing, and I’d love to know how you landed on that concept. I’m really curious!
Powell: Waldron and I realized early on that the core of a compelling sports story is often about overcoming adversity – it’s a story about an underdog. Today, it feels like people rarely get second chances. If someone makes a mistake publicly, we tend to quickly and harshly dismiss them. We were drawn to this story because it represented a new beginning for someone – a talented athlete who had dedicated his life to the game, but was held back by his past and, specifically, by his appearance. His face and his history were the obstacles keeping him from returning to the field.
Chad symbolizes a new beginning. He embodies the hopeful spirit of a walk-on player – someone new who quickly becomes a vital part of the team. However, if you learned that this key player, this fresh face, was actually burdened by a troubled past, it would drastically alter your perception. As an actor, I find the contrast between those two sides of a character much more compelling, especially when the personalities are very different.
As a movie reviewer, I have to say, it’s fascinating to hear about the on-location experience. They asked the actors, who are huge college football fans, what it was like filming in those incredible stadiums, with all the noise and energy of the crowds. It sounded especially meaningful for Michael to be shooting in Sanford Stadium – his reaction must have been something special!
Waldron: It’s a dream come true. We filmed at our team’s home stadium – the Catfish’s stadium – which turned out to be the old Turner Field in Atlanta. It’s now Center Parc Stadium, where Georgia State plays football, but that’s where I spent my childhood going to baseball games. I could stand there and show where I used to sit with my dad as a kid, watching the Braves in the ‘90s. And filming on the field at Sanford Stadium, during a game at halftime, with all the fans cheering against Glen and our team, was incredibly exciting.
Powell: We asked them to boo, by the way. We put it on the jumbotron.
Waldron: That was a really significant moment. The crowd would have been thrilled, but honestly, it was incredibly exciting and definitely one of the best moments of my career.
Powell: I feel a strong connection to Texas, and I’m actually relieved we prompted the crowd to boo, because they might have booed on their own anyway.
The teams the Catfish compete against are all actual college teams. Was the creation of this made-up school simply a way to set up the joke that Chad Powers is a catfish?
Waldron: Our goal was always to feature actual college teams as opponents, to make the show feel genuine and rooted in the reality of college football. That’s what viewers are looking for – seeing our team compete against schools like Ole Miss, Tennessee, and Georgia. However, we also wanted to create a fictional school for our team. This allowed us to explore things like misbehavior, comedy, and the kind of dramatic conflict you need for a TV show, without having to get permission from other universities.
A really enjoyable part of the project was creating a complete Southern college football program from scratch, complete with 100 years of imagined history. This included designing everything – the color scheme, the main logo, supporting secondary logos, even retro logos. We also developed the mascot, which I think was one of the most exciting aspects of the whole process.
[The catfish joke] is just a fun addition, really. When we first thought of it, we simply figured that since they’re a team from the South, catfish seemed like a natural fit for an SEC team. Then we realized it would make us look pretty smart.”
Living in L.A. myself, I thought the first episode perfectly captured the typical L.A. ‘douchebag’ personality in Russ – with his Cybertruck, friends involved in crypto, and hanging out with the “coolest” people, including Haliey Welch [who you probably know as “Hawk Tuah Girl” – she made a really funny appearance! I’m curious, how did you develop the picture of what Russ’ life was like before Chad, and what was the experience of getting Haliey to participate?
Powell: What I especially loved was the line right after the Rose Bowl scene – “That’s why the Rose Bowl was the best thing that ever happened to me.” It’s a really powerful moment because it reveals he’s in denial. He’s avoiding confronting what’s truly bothering him. He *thinks* he’s intentionally distancing himself from football, even imagining driving away in a Cybertruck, but deep down, all he wants is to return to the field.
That absence of taking responsibility, being open, and admitting things is something we often see when someone is hurting. We simply wanted to create the most enjoyable take on that experience. And you can clearly see, particularly with Chad’s humble, self-deprecating attitude, that the idea was to really embody someone we all recognize as flawed, so we could explore the person behind the facade and enjoy knowing that individual exists within the character. The fact that there are two distinct personalities existing simultaneously is what truly makes the whole concept work.
Waldron: Basically, the reason he’s portrayed as unlikeable is for comedic effect. Everyone recognizes this character – he’s all over the internet. The show isn’t pretending he doesn’t exist, and what I find interesting is whether he can change his image by *acting* like a good teammate and actually become a decent person.
You know, when we were thinking about Haley, we started wondering who else had become really well-known for just *one* viral moment, and then kind of lived with that hanging over them. She felt like the perfect person to explore that with – a really relatable, modern example. We got in touch, and she was immediately on board! Honestly, I don’t think she’d ever acted before, but she came in and was just fantastic, so funny. It was a real pleasure working with her, and I think we were all a little starstruck, to be honest.
The initial episode offers a peek into a more vulnerable side of Russ, showcasing his childhood bedroom filled with football trophies and cherished photos. How did you manage to portray both his less appealing qualities and still make him a character viewers would support?
Waldron: The show has mature themes and the main character is flawed, meaning he makes mistakes. Luckily, having Glen Powell as our lead gives us creative freedom because audiences really like him. That’s a huge advantage for us. I also want to acknowledge that people who make mistakes and struggle with them *do* exist. This character has been deeply regretting his past actions and has been spending a lot of time online, exposing himself to negativity. The scene in his childhood bedroom is meant to illustrate that, at his core, he’s still very young at heart. When the incident happened, Russ was just a boy, and in many ways, he hasn’t fully grown up from that little boy who loved playing the game.
For me, that really gets to the heart of the show. When he puts on the mask and transforms into Chad, it’s like a flashback to when he first fell in love with football. I absolutely loved that scene – Glen’s performance was fantastic, and the music by Natalie Holt was really effective. It just reminds you that there’s a real person underneath all the hype.
Powell: What’s really guided us throughout this process is our network of friends who’ve played football at all levels. We knew we were heading in the right direction because whenever you ask a former professional or college player if they could still play, their eyes immediately light up. Not a single one doubts they still have the ability. I really connected with the idea of finding where you truly belong – that field is where he belongs, and he was forced to leave that world too soon. He’s still capable, just stuck in a frustrating in-between state.
When someone is suddenly removed from the world they’ve known, they can feel lost and without direction. That’s often why athletes struggle after retirement – they can have a difficult time adjusting. They’ve dedicated their entire selves to a sport they love, and when it’s gone, they’re left searching for a new purpose. It’s about figuring out how to move forward. Russ is grappling with this, trying to focus on the future, even though he keeps dwelling on the past. I think it’s a very common human experience, and it’s something Waldron and I really wanted to portray – that feeling of denial. It’s a denial of what you were passionate about. It’s a denial of your purpose.
Glen, both Eli and Peyton Manning gave a lot of detailed advice about your throwing technique and the technical side of the show. But I also heard Eli really took an active role in things like the script and other important parts of the production. Can you describe what it was like working with him on those aspects?
Powell: Honestly, when the rights to this show became available, Patrick Waldron and I immediately connected. We both felt like we were the only people in Hollywood who truly *got* what it’s like to be a college football fan. That’s why we knew we were the right people to make it – we genuinely care about the sport. Our goal was simple: to create the most definitive, the most complete college football show ever.
We’re incredibly fortunate to have Eli Manning and Peyton Manning helping us out. They’re able to make important calls and ensure we get the necessary approvals. Beyond that, they’re helping me present myself as a Division 1 quarterback capable of competing for a national championship. When you see this player’s arm – much like you saw in Eli’s tryout video – you think, “That’s a professional-level arm, one that deserves to be developed fully.” And of course, that level of potential comes with a lot of expectations. Because Waldron and I watch football every Saturday and Sunday, so we have a good understanding of what truly elite talent looks like.
Waldron: Sports fans are really tough – they often anticipate their team will perform poorly. That’s a fundamental part of what it means to be a fan, and we’re creating content with that in mind. That sets the standard for what we do. Luckily, we’re fans ourselves, and we approach everything with a critical eye. We really tried to be our own toughest judges, and I think we succeeded.
The show’s writing really understands internet culture and the kind of humor that appeals to Gen-Z – and that’s especially true with the character Danny [Frankie A. Rodriguez]. He frequently makes references to Deuxmoi [the popular celebrity gossip Instagram account]. What led to the decision to include that kind of language and those specific references?
Waldron: The show, in many ways, explores how people spend excessive time online. Considering Russ – with Danny being a college student in 2025 – and all the coaches stuck in a cycle of negativity due to coaching struggling teams, it needed to feel current. We aimed for realism in the writing, and thankfully, we had a fantastic writing team, including some talented young writers who kept me grounded and informed me that using GIFs is becoming outdated. Apparently, texting with GIFs is primarily a millennial habit, which I hadn’t realized.
I think that approach – that style – definitely comes from working with Dan Harmon (known for shows like “Rick and Morty” and “Community”). He’s a product of Generation X. I see it as simply trying to write authentically about the current moment. These days, people are always looking at their phones, and those phones are constantly judging them, telling them whether they’re doing well or not. In a lot of ways, that’s the core of the show’s message.
You’ve known each other for some time, but this is the first time you’re working together on a project. What specifically about this project felt like the perfect opportunity to begin your collaboration-beyond just both enjoying the game?
Powell: You know, I always tell people that meeting Waldron felt like the best first date I’ve ever had – and I mean that in the Hollywood sense! We just clicked instantly. Waldron and I are around the same age, and we both grew up loving the same kinds of films. I’ve found that when you’re really writing with someone, truly collaborating, you end up communicating in a kind of shorthand… a language of movies. It’s like we’re referencing all the films we both know and love without even realizing it. It just makes the process so much easier and more fun. It’s a great feeling.
One of the movies we often playfully talked about and genuinely enjoyed was “Armageddon.” It’s probably not a film you’d bring up in sophisticated film discussions, but Waldron and I both sincerely love it. We appreciate how it takes a completely outlandish idea and treats it with utter seriousness, which makes it really entertaining for viewers. And that’s precisely what we’re aiming for with our show. We’re essentially doing an “Armageddon” – taking a far-fetched concept and anchoring it in the reality of actual football teams, a real-world setting, and genuine football action. Once the audience accepts the core idea of our show and we commit to treating it seriously, it creates a really enjoyable experience. It’s a style that’s been lacking lately. We’re always searching for these overlooked areas in Hollywood. We realized that the feeling of those classic sports movies, and the fun ride they provide, was something missing.
Glen, it was great seeing you on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” last week discussing the show and the funny appearance your mom made. How did it feel to be there for his first show back after his suspension?
Powell: Honestly, it was one of those nights I’ll never forget. It’s tough to put into words, really. I’m still trying to wrap my head around everything that happened. As a movie lover, I can say it felt like something out of a film!
Everyone is really excited about the show, and people can’t stop discussing Season 2. Are you taking a moment to enjoy that excitement, or are you trying to stay focused and not celebrate too early, like Russ would?
Waldron: We’ve all seen what happens when someone celebrates prematurely, so let’s hope viewers watch! We’re incredibly happy with how it turned out, and making it was a really enjoyable experience. I believe that positive energy comes across in the final product.
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2025-09-30 22:03