Glen Powell Just Revealed Why Russ Holliday Isn’t Done Playing Chad Powers Yet

Sports comedies rarely earn a second season that actually deepens the premise instead of just repeating it, but Hulu’s ‘Chad Powers’ has managed exactly that. What began as a lighthearted disguise comedy about a disgraced quarterback sneaking back onto the field has steadily morphed into something far more layered.

Glen Powell’s Russ Holliday spent Season 1 building an elaborate lie just to get back on a football field, and Season 2 has spent six episodes watching that lie spiral further out of his control. By the time the credits roll on the newest finale, almost everyone in Russ’s orbit knows exactly who Chad Powers really is.

That’s the backdrop for the biggest reveal to come out of the Season 2 finale: Powell himself seems to believe Russ isn’t remotely finished with his football journey, despite the chaos closing in around him. It’s a twist that reframes everything the show has been building toward since its very first episode.

According to co-creator Michael Waldron, that mindset traces directly back to conversations he had with Powell while shaping the character’s arc for this season. “The thing that Glen always said that struck me was that, in his mind, Russ is just thinking about crossing the goal line, winning the National Championship, and then it’s almost like credits roll for him,” Waldron explained to Deadline, describing how Powell envisioned his character’s tunnel vision toward one singular goal.

That obsessive focus on winning, rather than what comes after, has become the emotional engine driving Season 2’s messiest developments. Russ’s teammate Danny and his old flame turned coaching ally Ricky have both been forced to confront just how far they’re willing to go to protect his secret, often making choices Russ himself might not have sanctioned.

The finale itself, titled “12th Quarter,” pushes that tension to its breaking point. Russ gets blackmailed by disgruntled backup quarterback Gerry into deliberately losing a pivotal game, only for Danny and Ricky to intervene by bringing wealthy booster Tricia Yeager into the fold to help protect the ruse and save the team’s season.

Rather than tanking the game as instructed, Russ ultimately makes a decisive final run to the end zone that secures a win for the South Georgia Catfish, seemingly closing out his tenure as the team’s star quarterback in dramatic fashion. It’s a moment that plays like the emotional climax the entire season had been building toward.

But ‘Chad Powers’ isn’t done complicating things from there. In a quieter aftermath, Russ and Ricky share a long-awaited kiss, only for her to begin peeling his prosthetics off just as her father, Coach Hudson, bursts into the room and catches them together. Whether Hudson realizes exactly who he’s looking at remains unresolved as the season closes.

That ambiguity, paired with looming subplots like Ricky’s potential move to a coaching job in Syracuse and questions about Hudson’s future with the team, leaves plenty of runway for Russ’s story to continue well beyond this finale. Waldron’s comments suggest that even Russ’s own creative team sees him as a character still chasing something bigger than one triumphant final play.

Given how thoroughly Season 2 dismantled the idea that Russ could simply win a title and walk away clean, it’s easy to see why Powell might view his alter ego as far from finished. The consequences of his lies have only multiplied, and so, it seems, has the story left to tell.

With Hulu yet to confirm a third season, fans are left wondering just how much further Russ Holliday’s double life can stretch before it finally catches up with him for good.

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