Who’s on ‘Chad Powers’ Season 2? – Full Cast & Characters

‘Chad Powers’ Season 2 Overview

• Chad Powers Season 2 premieres Thursday, September 3, 2026, with all six episodes releasing at once on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+.
• Glen Powell returns as Russ Holliday, the disgraced former quarterback who uses prosthetics, a wig and an elaborate fictional backstory to sneak onto the field for the South Georgia Catfish as Chad Powers in a misguided attempt to salvage his career.
• Returning cast members include Steve Zahn, Perry Mattfeld, Colton Ryan, Frankie A. Rodriguez, Quentin Plair and Wynn Everett. Guest stars include Gillian Jacobs, Colin Woodell, Nate Varrone and Carey O’Donnell.

“Just Chad!” is back for another season of Hulu’s hit dramedy Chad Powers. Glen Powell, one of Hollywood’s current most recognizable faces, will once again disappear beneath a prosthetic nose, fake teeth, a mustache and an aggressively unconvincing wig to step under center for the South Georgia Catfish as the eponymous Chad Powers in a follow up to last year’s surprise hit comedy.

Inspired by NFL legend Eli Manning’s viral 2022 undercover appearance at a Penn State football tryout as a 40-year-old walk-on quarterback named Chad Powers, Hulu turned a one-off comedy skit into a sports series about identity, ambition and the uncomfortable limits of reinventing yourself. (Fun fact: Manning cameos as an opposing head coach in Season 1!)

Season 1 followed disgraced former Oregon quarterback Russ Holliday as he created the Chad Powers persona and walked onto the struggling South Georgia Catfish. Chad’s success revitalized the program, but it also attracted the attention Russ was trying to avoid. Season 2 begins with Chad now a superstar drawing national attention, backup QB Gerry growing increasingly resentful and Coach Jake Hudson beginning to suspect he’s hiding something.

Need to get caught up on who’s on Chad Powers? Here is your guide to the returning cast, new guest stars and characters of Chad Powers Season 2.

You can watch ‘Chad Powers’ on DIRECTV through Disney+ and Hulu.

Which Actors are on ‘Chad Powers’ Season 2?

The central South Georgia Catfish characters return for Season 2 — here are the characters and the cast who play them.

Warning: Spoilers from Chad Powers Season 1 follow.

Glen Powell as Russ Holliday/Chad Powers

Known For: Top Gun: Maverick, Hit Man, Anyone But You, Twisters

Russ Holliday is a gifted former college quarterback whose massive ego and impulsive, self-destructive behavior ruined his promising career and NFL prospects.

Struggling to get back into the game and overcome his negative public image, he decides to respond to a call for walk-on quarterbacks to try out for the South Georgia Catfish, a rock-bottom college football team looking for a back-up QB, seeing it as a chance to reclaim his former glory.

The biggest problem with his plan? He can’t exactly show up as the Russ Holliday everyone knows and hates. So, he dons prosthetics, puts on an exaggerated Deep South accent and attends the tryout as… Chad Powers, Russ’s totally made-up, very eccentric and awkward walk-on persona. Chad is basically the complete opposite of Russ in almost every way, but just as good at playing quarterback, since, well, he’s the still same person.

Powell effectively plays two versions of the same character. Russ is defensive, self-involved and desperate to escape his reputation, while Chad is enthusiastic, supportive and loveably dim-witted. The tension between those personalities becomes more complicated as Russ starts to genuinely care about the Catfish players and staff who begin to believe in Chad’s potential to save their program.

Season 2 makes his facade more difficult to maintain. Chad is no longer an anonymous walk-on fighting for a roster spot. He is the team’s star quarterback and is now attracting attention from fans, coaches and the media. His success gives Russ more to lose while making it increasingly unlikely that someone won’t investigate Chad’s background. Plus, Coach Ricky and Danny both know his true identity.

In addition to starring in Chad Powers, Powell co-created the series with Michael Waldron and serves as a writer and executive producer.

Steve Zahn as Coach Jake Hudson

Known For: That Thing You Do!, Reality Bites, The White Lotus

Jake Hudson is the head coach of the South Georgia Catfish and Ricky’s father. Years of losing seasons have put his job and reputation on the line, and Chad’s arrival feels like an improbable rescue from his perspective.

Hudson is initially willing to accept Chad’s eccentricities because of his abilities on the field, but as Chad becomes more secretive, he begins to question why everyone knows so little about his new QB, and why Chad is so unwilling to discuss his past in more detail.

Late in Season 1, Hudson suffers a heart attack. Although he survives, the medical emergency helps set the finale’s revelations in motion: Russ uses his own vehicle, randomly pulling up in a very-out-of-character-for-Chad Tesla Cybertruck, to get Hudson to the hospital. Ricky puts the pieces together and connects Russ and Chad.

Perry Mattfeld as Coach Ricky Hudson

Known For: In the Dark, Shameless, Wizards of Waverly Place

Ricky Hudson is a Catfish assistant coach and Coach Jake Hudson’s daughter. She wants to establish herself as a capable football professional rather than someone who owes her position solely to her father, and the team’s staff and ownership make that difficult.

Ricky bonds with Chad during Season 1, but inconsistencies in his story gradually make her suspicious. After her father’s medical emergency, she discovers that Chad Powers is actually Russ Holliday.

Russ initially prepares to abandon the Catfish, but he returns before the team’s game against the Georgia Bulldogs. Ricky threatens to expose him, and Russ responds that revealing the truth could destroy the season and damage her father’s legacy. She reluctantly agrees to remain silent, although she makes clear that she has not forgiven him.

Season 2 forces Ricky into the deception alongside Russ and Danny. She is the only coach who knows Chad’s identity.

Colton Ryan as Gerry Dougan

Known For: The Girl from Plainville, Uncle Frank, Little Voice

Gerry began Season 1 as the Catfish’s starting quarterback. Chad initially joined the roster as his backup, but Gerry’s injury gave the mysterious walk-on an opportunity to play. Chad then led the struggling Catfish on an undefeated run and became the face of the program, much to Gerry’s jealousy and dismay.

When Russ briefly abandoned the team in the Season 1 finale, Gerry prepared to return to the starting lineup. Chad arrived before kickoff, however, leaving Gerry to watch his rival reclaim the attention of the locker room.

In Season 2, Gerry’s competitive drive and jealousy are turning into outright suspicion, and Gerry spends enough time around Chad to notice that his teammate’s behavior and personal history do not seem to add up.

Frankie A. Rodriguez as Danny

Known For: High School Musical: The Musical: The Series

Danny is the Catfish’s mascot and the first person at South Georgia to become involved in Russ’s deception. After meeting Russ during the walk-on process, Danny helps improve the Chad Powers disguise and becomes responsible for keeping it intact.

Danny keeps Russ grounded and understands the practical problems and details that Russ overlooks: proper makeup application, fixing damaged prosthetics and keeping Russ’ cover from being blown when he’s out of disguise. He frequently acts as the voice of reason, although Russ doesn’t always listen to him.

With Ricky now aware of the truth, the operation expands from a two-person conspiracy into an uneasy alliance. Danny and Russ need Ricky’s cooperation, but she has little interest in making their deception easier.

Quentin Plair as Coach Byrd

Known For: Welcome to Chippendales, Tiny Beautiful Things, Roswell, New Mexico

Coach Byrd is an assistant coach on Hudson’s Catfish staff. He works closely with the players and helps the team translate Chad’s unexpected talent into victories.

Because Byrd is involved in the program’s daily football operations, he is regularly exposed to Chad’s unusual habits and the changing dynamics within the quarterback room. Nevertheless, he remains unaware of Russ’s true identity going into Season 2.

Wynn Everett as Tricia Yeager

Known For: Agent Carter, The Newsroom, Sweet Magnolias

Tricia Yeager chairs the Catfish booster trust, giving her significant influence over the funding, image, direction of and institutional politics surrounding the football program.

A losing team attracts one kind of pressure, and she makes it clear early on that Hudson’s days as head coach are numbered if he can’t put up some wins this season. Once Chad’s success sees the team start to do exactly that, it raises expectations from donors and brings more attention to the program, even though Tricia and the other boosters do not know the truth about their star quarterback.

Tricia was one of the breakout characters in Season 1, delivering some of the show’s most hilarious and scathing lines with her abrasive, brash personality.

New Cast & Characters on ‘Chad Powers’ Season 2

Season 2 introduces four new guest stars whose characters become embroiled in the Catfish’s rise and Russ’s increasingly complicated ruse.

Gillian Jacobs as Jerri Dougan

Known For: Community, Love, Transatlantic

Jerri Dougan is Gerry’s sister and a passionate Catfish fan. She believes Chad unfairly took the starting quarterback position from her brother, giving her a personal reason to question the program’s sudden new star.

Colin Woodell as Jay

Known For: The Continental, The Flight Attendant, Unfriended: Dark Web

Jay is a wealthy and charismatic South Georgia alum invited to a game as the program attempts to convert him into a major donor. His arrival illustrates just how much Chad’s presence has altered the fortunes of the program. The Catfish are dominating, the program is receiving national attention and prominent alumni suddenly have more reason to become involved. All of this raises the stakes and the risks for Chad/Russ.

Nate Varrone as Dustin

Known For: The Bear, Rap World, Joy Tactics

When Russ invented Chad, he also cooked up a falsified address to claim as his home address. Turns out, someone lives at the actual address: Dustin. Dustin’s accidental connection to Chad’s deception draws him into a situation he had no part in creating.

Carey O’Donnell as Mr. Brent

Mr. Brent oversees cheerleading at South Georgia, which Danny supports as the mascot.

Watch ‘Chad Powers’ on DIRECTV

You can watch Chad Powers by connecting your Hulu account to your DIRECTV subscription! Sign up today to get start.