Glen Powell Talks ‘Chad Powers’ And His Hollywood Business Interests

Between his big box office blockbusters like Top Gun: Maverick, Twisters and Anyone But You to his streaming success with Hit Man, Glen Powell has cemented himself as one of Hollywood’s most captivating leading men today – and yet, it feels like he is just getting started in telling the crowd-pleasing stories he wants to tell in Hollywood.

“I find at its best, this business is about making the things that you’d want to see and getting to collaborate with the people that you’re genuine fans of, and that’s literally what I got to do with this show.”

Powell, 36, is referring to his latest project, a new limited series titled Chad Powers, which is now streaming on Hulu. Based on the Eli’s Places segment from ESPN and Omaha Productions, Chad Powers is co-created and co-written for television by Powell, as well as executive produced by the star of this six-episode series. It tells the story of Russ Holliday, an ego-driven former college football star, who is now remembered by the public for his painful loss and bad sportsmanship years earlier. Determined to finally get his life back on track and return to his love of football, Holliday decides to disguise himself as a dorky newcomer named Chad Powers.

Sitting down with Powell and his Chad Powers co-star, actor Steve Zahn who plays Coach Jake Hudson, I wondered what it was for Powell about what he has been seeing within the television landscape lately, that made him feel that this new Hulu comedy series was a story worth telling.

Powell said, “Michael Waldron, my co-creator on this – very early on, we talked about sort of the flavors of those great sports movies – the archetypes of what those stories are. You know, Rudy, Bull Durham, Tin Cup – these sort of underdog stories that were ripe with all these flavors. They were dramatic and they were funny and they were heartfelt, and they had these epic set pieces that made you want to cheer at the end of the movie. I was like – Where is that? No one’s making that anymore. We talked about when kind of breaking what this show could be, we talked about how do we kind of infuse all the flavors of those great sports movies into something that will entertain audiences all over the world? It’s just been a really, really fun thing because I feel like this show, it’s one of those that just hits on every level. I feel like when you put a great cast together and a great writers’ room together – it’s like the magic that’s happened around this one has just been unbelievable. I’ve never had such a good time making anything. It was just a blast.”

As for how Zahn, 57, got attached to this project, he said of Powell and Waldron, “These guys approached me and we had a meeting, and then I read [the script]. I am such a huge college football fan. I live in Kentucky and if you understand kind of the SEC (Southeastern Conference) in the South, there are a lot of gaps between pro teams, like areas that are drought pro. You have Cincinnati Bengals and then you have Nashville, and then you’ve got to go way over into Pennsylvania to get another pro team. So, there’s nothing there to follow, other than your university. And so, Kentucky – I’m the guy tailgating and going to the games – and now, I have an opportunity to play a coach. This was like kind of a dream job, to be honest with you. I mean, to do a gig and then to have people like it, and if it’s a hit, then people call you ‘Coach’ for the rest of your life at Kroger?”

Powell is no stranger to being a producer on various projects lately – including his 2023 Netflix film Hit Man and his 2024 The Blue Angels documentary – and he is well-aware of the say that he now has on a productions, not only in front of the camera but behind-the-scenes.

“I think what’s really, really fun is that we’re all fans of college football,” Powell said. “We’re all fans of great movies and great TV shows. I think the fun part for me is that spirit – that’s what we tried to imbue into this show. I find at its best, this business is about making the things that you’d want to see and getting to collaborate with the people that you’re genuine fans of, and that’s literally what I got to do with this show. I’ve been a fan of this guy [Steve] forever and getting to square off with him in the show was just such a joy. We have an ensemble here that is unbelievable. Everybody just swings and connects with the ball, and it’s just awesome. I’m just really proud because that’s what this business can be at its best. That’s why I feel like getting to have a heavier hand in this – I’m trying to create an ecosystem of just like true play and true fun and like true fan-ship, and I feel like we hit it here.”

With Zahn being a longtime actor himself in Hollywood, including working alongside Tom Hanks in That Thing You Do, Rebecca Ferguson on the Apple TV+ series Silo and next alongside Paul Rudd & Jack Black in Anaconda, he is no stranger to teaming up with other star power. As for Powell, Zahn has nothing but praise to say about his Chad Powers co-star.

Zahn said, “Look, the character he plays – here’s the hard truth. You have to swing so hard, in order for this to work. It is almost impossible to play this absurd guy, this character, and then this other character who’s just as absurd. I couldn’t believe how great that was. And it’s true – if you just swing halfway, it’s going to suck and it’s going to derail. You have to go all out. When you walk in there and you start that voice. I was like – Man, I can’t. This is either going to work – it’s either going to be great or it’s going to suck. He’s phenomenal in the show. Just watch it!”

With both Powell and Zahn having a television background before Chad Powers, including Powell acting in two seasons of Scream Queens and Zahn starring in the first season of The White Lotus, I wondered what have been the joys for them in doing episodic storytelling here, over their other already seasoned work around filmmaking.

Zahn said of the benefits of television over film, “It’s huge. Yeah, it’s just you can get that much more in-depth. That’s it. You get to spend a lot more time with a character and other characters. I love it and it’s not like the old days where you got on a show and if it was a hit, you can be on there – that’s your career. It’s over – but nowadays, it’s not, you know? I mean, this is going to be limited because there’s just a certain amount of storytelling you can tell.”

Powell said of TV versus film, “I think the fun part that I’ve realized is that when you hear a premise – like one thing that I always try to do is just like try to watch what the storyline is trying to say that it wants to be. Sometimes, a thing wants to be a movie. Sometimes, it wants to be a show. Sometimes, it wants to be limited. Sometimes, there are all different formats for all different stories, but this one really showed that this is a perfect premise to really draw out the tension of this lie over the course of a season and figure out how far you can take it. That was always something really exciting to me. There are a lot of incremental choices of all these characters, that you want to live in that. You want to sit in it, and as an audience, you don’t want to rush it. So, this is a fun premise.”

Concluding the conversation with Zahn and Powell, I was curious what each of them would say to their Chad Powers character over these six Hulu episodes, if only they could.

Powell said with Russ Holliday and Chad Powers in mind, “I don’t know, dude. You know, just hold onto the ball. Don’t dance before you get in the end zone.”

Zahn said with Coach Hudson in mind, “Blow the whistle harder. Blow it harder. Over-prepare, show up early and don’t be a d**k.”