‘Chad Powers’ cast shares their favorite characters

The cast of Chad Powers has spent the last week fielding questions about which character they would watch in their own spin-off. With Season 2 dropping all six episodes on September 3, the ensemble is now answering that question with the same speed viewers are bingeing the show.

Season 2 timing

The new episodes landed exactly eleven months after the first season, a move Hulu made to capitalize on Powell’s rising Q-rating. Cast members say the compressed schedule forced quick chemistry reads and left little time for second takes on game-day sequences.

Actors arrived on set already ranked by fans on Reddit threads, and the sudden availability of every episode meant those rankings shifted within forty-eight hours. Several performers admit they checked social numbers between takes.

The all-at-once release also changed how they prepared favorite-character clips for late-night appearances, trimming answers to fit ninety-second segments rather than full interviews.

Powell on dual roles

Glen Powell plays both Russ Holliday and Chad Powers, yet he names the walk-on as the one he would follow into another series. He cites Chad’s “weird heart” and the chance to keep refining the accent he built with dialect coaches last year.

Powell spent the off-season working with SEC quarterbacks to sharpen the throwing motion that appears in flashback cutaways. He says the extra reps made Chad feel more lived-in than Russ ever did.

Co-creator Michael Waldron agrees, noting that the voice alone could anchor future episodes if the prosthetics budget holds. Powell adds that playing the sweeter Chad feels like a direct rebuttal to his earlier, meaner Chad Radwell from Scream Queens.

Zahn anchors the staff

Steve Zahn returns as Coach Jake Hudson, whose health scare closed Season 1. He points to Hudson’s mix of toughness and quiet doubt as the quality viewers still discuss most.

Zahn spent weeks shadowing an actual SEC assistant to get the cadence of headset commands right. He says the research turned Hudson from a stock coach into someone whose silences matter as much as his speeches.

The actor notes that Hudson’s relationship with his daughter Ricky now drives more scenes than the football itself, giving the character a private life fans had only glimpsed before.

Mattfeld’s conscience role

Perry Mattfeld plays offensive assistant Ricky Hudson, the only staffer who knows Chad’s real identity. She says Ricky’s internal conflict is what keeps her coming back to the scripts.

Mattfeld studied game film to learn the terminology she barks during practice scenes, and she asked the writers to let Ricky call at least one play per episode. They agreed.

Off-camera, Mattfeld’s process of annotating every line impressed younger cast members, who now ask her to run lines before each take rather than relying on table reads alone.

Everett’s booster bite

Wynn Everett portrays Tricia Yeager, the booster-chair powerhouse who signs the checks. She calls Tricia the most fun role she has played because the character never apologizes for wanting to win.

Everett arrived with a binder of local society-page clippings to shape Tricia’s wardrobe and jewelry. Costume designers kept most of the suggestions, including a pair of vintage SEC cufflinks that appear in close-ups.

Frankie Rodriguez says watching Everett switch into Tricia on set gave him chills; the change was so complete that crew members started calling her by the character’s name between takes.

Rodriguez’s loyal mascot

Frankie Rodriguez plays Danny Cruz, the team mascot who helps maintain Chad’s disguise. He names Danny the character he would follow off-campus because the mascot sees every secret without ever playing.

Rodriguez drew on his own theater-kid background to give Danny a running commentary that punctures the testosterone around him. Writers expanded those asides in Season 2 after test screenings showed they landed with younger viewers.

He also studied Powell’s prosthetic application so he could help on camera, turning what began as a utility role into a full comic partnership that fans now rank just behind the lead.

Supporting rival energy

Colton Ryan’s Gerry Dougan enters Season 2 as the backup quarterback openly gunning for Chad’s spot. Ryan says Gerry’s grudge gives the show its clearest antagonist energy and the scenes he would watch first in any re-cut.

Quentin Plair’s Coach Byrd balances the staff with quiet competence. Plair kept a notebook of real coordinators’ sideline gestures and used them to ground Byrd even when the dialogue turns absurd.

Both actors appear in fewer episodes than the core group, yet their limited screen time has already generated separate Reddit rankings, proving the ensemble effect the producers wanted.

Fan polls and buzz

Within a day of release, Ranker polls placed Powell’s Chad first, Mattfeld’s Ricky second, and Plair’s Byrd third. The quick data drop surprised even the actors, who had expected nostalgia votes for Season 1 favorites.

Haliey Welch’s cameo as a booster-event emcee trended on TikTok after viewers clipped her one-liner about NIL deals. Welch later posted that she filmed the scene between flights and still has not seen the full episode.

The surge in rankings also pushed older clips of Eli Manning’s original walk-on prank back into rotation, reminding casual viewers that the series began as a real SEC stunt before it became scripted.

Next moves

With Season 3 scripts already in Waldron’s drawer, the cast is negotiating which characters survive the inevitable reveal of Chad’s identity. Powell says the writers are testing three endings, and the actors have placed informal bets on whose secret-keeping days are numbered.

Zahn and Mattfeld want more family material if the show continues, while Rodriguez hopes Danny gets a love interest outside the stadium. Everett simply asks that Tricia keep her check-signing power; she jokes that the role now pays better than her actual 401(k).

The binge model and the cast’s willingness to name favorites have turned Chad Powers into appointment television that starts the morning after it drops, a trick few comedies manage twice.