While Chad Powers is a great vehicle for Glen Powell’s impeccable comedic timing, the outrageous, largely forgotten and surprisingly similar horror comedy Scream Queens remains his best TV show yet. Glen Powell’s ascent to stardom has been a steady, rather than meteoric, rise. In 2022, his role as Hangman in Top Gun: Maverick marked him as the blockbuster’s breakout star.
Hangman’s mix of boorish cockiness and undeniable charisma led to lead roles in 2024’s Anyone But You and Twisters, which then led to Powell starring as a washed-up football star in Hulu’s Chad Powers. The sports comedy is a great showcase for Powell’s goofier, funnier side, but the actor spent years in supporting roles before his breakout.
Glen Powell’s Best TV Show Is Still Scream Queens
Glen Powell screaming with a comedically silly expression in Scream QueensImage made by Yeider Chacon
On the big screen, Powell had minor roles in everything from 2013’s Red Wing to 2016’s Everybody Wants Some!!, to the 2018 period piece The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. However, the small screen is where Powell’s true breakout role came, and it was a part that went on to inform Chad Powers.
In 2015’s satirical slasher comedy Scream Queens, Powell played the comically awful jock Chad Radwell, a character so heinous that he paradoxically became both hilarious and unexpectedly lovable. Like Scream Queens, Chad Powers is another college-set series with a lot of tongue-in-cheek elements borrowed from a popular teen movie genre.
Scream Queens’ College Setting & Genre Satire Pair Well With Chad Powers
The Chanels and Denise Hemphill screaming in season 1 of Scream Queens
Much like how the underrated Scream Queens parodied college slasher movies like Scream 2 and Urban Legend, Chad Powers lovingly spoofs football dramas like We Are Marshall and Friday Night Lights. In both shows, Powell also steals the story as a lovable jerk, and both characters are even named Chad.
Chad Powers Is The Exact Kind Of Project Powell Should Have Done More Of After Scream Queens
After Scream Queens, Powell leaned hard into moving away from goofy characters like Chad Radwell. From 2016 until 2023, his screen oeuvre was dominated by worthy dramatic projects like Sand Castle, Devotion, and Hidden Figures. Comedy took a backseat as Powell stopped making fun of his matinée idol, leading man persona, and began unironically embracing it.
The problem is that comedy seems to be Powell’s true calling, whether it is the sarcastic charm of Top Gun: Maverick’s Hangman or the slapstick silliness of Anyone But You. After Scream Queens, Powell avoided major roles that copied self-parodic tone of Murphy’s show, so it is fun to see the star return to this style.
Although Chad Powers might not be perfect, the show is at its strongest when it refuses to take its title character seriously. Powell has dramatic chops, but he shines when playing goofy, silly roles absurdly straight, something highlighted by both Chad Powers and Scream Queens a decade apart.
Release Date
September 30, 2025
Network
Hulu
Directors
Tony Yacenda
Perry Mattfeld
Russ Holliday / Chad Powers
