Chad Powers Season 2 Trailer: Glen Powell’s Ruse Unravels

Glen Powell’s greatest con is about to get harder to pull off. Hulu dropped the first full trailer for Chad Powers Season 2 on Thursday, and the walls are officially closing in on Russ Holliday. The South Georgia Catfish still have a playoff to run, but their star quarterback’s secret — that he’s actually a disgraced former Oregon QB wearing prosthetics and a fake identity — is one slip away from blowing up in his face.

Ricky Knows, and That Changes Everything

The big shift this season: Ricky (Perry Mattfeld) has figured out the truth. The trailer makes it clear she’s been piecing it together since the first season, and now she’s the one holding the key to Chad’s survival. It’s a delicious setup — the person best positioned to expose him is the same person who could help him keep the lie alive, and the trailer leans hard into the tension between them.

Everyone else is circling, too. Coach Jake Hudson (Steve Zahn) has long suspected something isn’t right, and the trailer shows the heat coming from multiple directions as the Catfish push toward the College Football Playoff. The comedic engine of the show was always “how long can this possibly last?” — Season 2 answers with a ticking clock and a much messier Russ.

If you haven’t met the character yet, our Chad Powers page has everything you need to catch up before the premiere. The first season is streaming on Hulu right now, and it’s the fastest way to appreciate just how deep the hole Russ has dug for himself.

What We Know About Season 2

Here’s the confirmed rundown:

• Premiere: Thursday, September 3, 2026, with all six episodes dropping at once on Hulu in the U.S. and Disney+ internationally.
• Logline: Chad and Danny (Frankie A. Rodriguez) need to survive the regular season and reach the College Football Playoff — and the only person who can help them is the last person who wants to: Ricky.
• Cast: Glen Powell returns as Russ Holliday/Chad Powers, alongside Perry Mattfeld, Quentin Plair as Coach Byrd, Wynn Everett as Tricia Yeager, Frankie A. Rodriguez, and Steve Zahn as Coach Jake Hudson.
• Creators: Co-created by Glen Powell and Michael Waldron, based on Eli Manning’s “Eli’s Places” segment for ESPN.

The creative pedigree is a big part of why this show works. Waldron is the mind behind Loki, so the twisty structure and identity-play should feel familiar — this is a guy who genuinely enjoys putting a protagonist in a box and watching them scheme out. Powell, meanwhile, has spent the last few years becoming one of the most reliable stars in Hollywood, from Top Gun: Maverick to Twisters, and Chad Powers gives him a chance to flex his comedy chops in a way his blockbuster work rarely does.

From ESPN Skit to Streaming Hit

It’s worth remembering where this all started. Chad Powers began as a 2022 segment in Eli Manning’s “Eli’s Places” series, in which the two-time Super Bowl MVP disguised himself — with a wig, a fake name, and an exaggerated persona — and tried out for a college team as an anonymous walk-on. The segment went viral, and the character took on a life of its own. Powell turned that one-off gag into a full series with Manning and Peyton Manning’s Omaha Productions behind it, and the first season landed with critics and audiences alike.

There’s a fun echo here: Russ Holliday isn’t just cosplaying as a football player. He’s using the exact same playbook as the real-world skit — a made-up name, a made-up backstory, and enough confidence to bluff his way onto a roster. The show has always been part sports comedy, part identity farce, and Season 2 looks like it’s leaning all the way into the farce as the lie gets harder to sustain.

It’s also a reminder of how Powell’s star has risen since then. Anyone But You turned him into a rom-com leading man, and Hit Man showed he could carry a smart, slightly unhinged comedy on his back. Chad Powers is the rare project where he gets to be both the leading man and the guy playing three layers of disguise at once.

Why Season 2 Matters

Comedies on streaming are a tricky business. One season is easy; sustaining the joke across a second is where most shows stumble. Chad Powers has a real advantage: its premise is built on a secret, and secrets have a shelf life. Season 2 finally activating the “Ricky knows” button means the show can stop teasing and start dealing with consequences — which is exactly the kind of escalation that keeps a premise from going stale.

The timing is smart, too. September 3 puts the premiere right in the middle of the real college football season, when football fans are already in the rhythm of Saturday game days. Hulu is betting that the crossover audience — sports fans who don’t usually watch prestige comedy — will show up for a show that speaks their language. If it works, Chad Powers becomes the kind of low-key reliable hit that streaming services quietly renew for years.

It also helps that the show travels well. Hulu’s U.S. run gets mirrored internationally on Disney+, which is how a football comedy built around American college culture ends up finding audiences who have never watched a down of gridiron. The universal part of the story — pretending to be someone you’re not, and the anxiety of being found out — translates without a translator.

There’s also a question of just how far the show is willing to go. At some point, the fake identity has to collide with the real world — and the trailer suggests that collision is coming sooner rather than later. The fun of Season 2 will be watching Russ squirm, adapt, and try to outrun a truth that’s catching up to him at full speed.

The Bottom Line

Chad Powers Season 2 lands on Hulu and Disney+ on September 3, and the trailer makes a strong case that this is a comedy worth blocking out a day for. Six episodes, no filler, Glen Powell at his most charming, and a secret that can’t hold forever. If you liked the first season, this looks like everything that worked — just turned up.

While you wait, there’s no shortage of Powell to catch up on: Anyone But You remains the most rewatchable rom-com of the decade, and Twisters proved he can headline a blockbuster without breaking a sweat. By the time September rolls around, you’ll be fully caught up on why everyone’s been talking about this show.