In the last few years, whether we like it or not, actor Glen Powell feels inescapable. Whether he’s holding his own with action superstars like Tom Cruise in Top Gun: Maverick or oozing chemistry with Sydney Sweeney in Anyone But You or standing out from an impressive ensemble in Twisters, he’s become a big-screen staple. Even on the small screen, the Netflix movie Hit Man and the Hulu series Chad Powers helped prove people can’t seem to get enough of him, and he’s got the new movie How to Make a Killing hitting theaters this weekend. To some, it feels like Powell came totally out of nowhere, but for horror fans, we’ve known just how talented he is for years.
In the early 2010s, writer Ryan Murphy began dominating the world of horror with his show American Horror Story, as each season delivered a gruesome, sexy, and hilarious tale of terror. In 2015, though, he pivoted away from the outright unsettling stories in AHS and embraced his comedic sensibilities for Fox’s Scream Queens. The series felt like it borrowed a page from the Scream franchise, as it was a self-referential slasher whose storyline was a murder-mystery at a college. Scream Queens, however, leaned much further into the realm of satire and black comedy in a way only Murphy can.
Powell had his work cut out for him, as the cast featured genre powerhouses like Jamie Lee Curtis, Emma Roberts, Lea Michele, Keke Palmer, Billie Lourd, and Abigail Breslin. Collaborating with such talented partners brought out the best in Powell, who played the hyper-masculine and narcissistic Chad Radwell. Chad is a seminal example of the character you love to hate, as every piece of dialogue highlighted his idiocy, yet Powell delivered these lines with such authenticity that he still managed to be charming.
A Wealth of Young Talent
When Scream Queens premiered, Roberts and Palmer had already begun proving themselves as stars to watch, but a decade after its release, Powell is only one surprising member of the cast. Wicked’s Ariana Grande, Twilight’s Taylor Lautner, and Saturday Night Live’s Nasim Pedrad are all also among the series’ cast, as are Disney standouts Nick Jonas and Grace Phipps.
Curtis wasn’t the only established star to drop by the series, as John Stamos, Kirstie Alley, Jerry O’Connell, Cecily Strong, Brooke Shields, and Cheri Oteri also made appearances throughout the show’s run. Much like AHS, Scream Queens managed to bring together unexpected, established talent alongside fresh faces who would go on to become superstars.
Too Weird for Network TV
Fox
Over on FX, it seems like there’s nothing Murphy can’t get away with. American Horror Story is preparing for Season 13, and the show already earned the spin-off American Horror Stories. He’s also developed genre series Grotesquerie and The Beauty for FX, while also delivering American Crime Story, Feud, Pose, and American Sports Story. Between cable series on FX and his streaming titles on Netflix and Hulu, Murphy has never had to compromise his provocative storytelling, with those platforms offering fewer restrictions.
Scream Queens, meanwhile, aired on Fox and, despite the network being unafraid to push boundaries, it did have to hold back on the sex, violence, and language. Not only that, but the stakes for the series were higher, as the benchmark for viewership was also above those on cable or streamers. Fox ultimately canceled the series due to dwindling viewership, niche appeal, and the expensive cast.
Luckily, with figures like Powell, Grande, and Roberts all growing more popular by the year, the series continues to have a passionate fan base, while Murphy has teased that he has plans for a Season 3. Whether or not the highly sought-after stars would be able to make those plans a reality is yet to be seen.