Chad Powers was a pleasant surprise, taking one gag and stretching it into an entire Hulu series. Chad Powers Season 2 is still fun to watch, but it’s also showing how hard it is to keep the joke going. With Glen Powell at the helm, the second season has a ton of energy, while it’s also clearly looking for a new direction.

First things first: Powell is still the show’s primary draw as its title character. What’s interesting in Season 2 is that his scenes as Russ Holliday become almost more engaging than his screen time playing Chad Powers. At this point, Chad’s country boy-esque schtick is well known not only by the rest of the South Georgia Catfish but by the audience. In contrast, Russ starts to show considerable character growth, which is important to keep Chad Powers feeling like it’s not just a slapstick comedy. But no matter which role he’s in, Glen Powell drives the project. It’s interesting to see the choices he makes to keep growing the character, while working in such a compressed timeline.

Chad Powers Season 2 picks up roughly a week after the end of Season 1, which means there’s not room for the characters to have changed in any meaningful way. The audience is coming back pretty much to the same joke, and it takes the second season two full episodes to feel different from the first. But what Season 2 does is find other questions to answer beyond “Will people discover Chad Powers’ secret?”, because that conundrum gets old pretty fast.

The relationship between Russ and Ricky Hudson is now the emotional core of the show, with actor Perry Mattfeld having more to work with, even if the audience can suss out where things are going. Chad Powers Season 2 also makes better use of the supporting cast, although some of the characters are still underdeveloped. Steve Zahn remains an unsung hero as Coach Jake Hudson grapples with the idea that the game he loves may have passed him by. And the Chad Powers Season 2 premiere is a showcase for Clayne Crawford as Coach Dobbs. Less successful is the show turning the formerly good-natured Gerry Dougan into a full-blown obsessive; it’s not as funny as the writers think it is.

The scripts continue to have a bit of an issue balancing comedy and drama; just like last season, a joke will pop up in the wrong place, or just plainly isn’t funny. The best humor honestly comes from the characters reacting to one another within this absurd situation they’ve been put in. Season 2 does its best to develop the world around Chad Powers, possibly because it’s clear there’s only so many times the writers can go to the “Chad almost gets his cover blown” well. But with more to learn about Ricky, Jake and even Russ’ father, it doesn’t matter so much. Viewers are successfully invested in the whole South Georgia Catfish community—which is also the same journey that Russ is on.

Season 2 does make clear that Chad Powers has a shelf life. There’s only so many times that Russ can narrowly avoid being caught, especially when he ends up in situations that are even more in the public eye. But Powell is still in his element playing Russ, and while the tonal shifts don’t always work, it’s a plus to see that the show is willing to take those risks. Uneven though it may be, at least it’s trying to be more than a costume gag.

One last interesting tidbit is that Hulu has abandoned the weekly drop in favor of releasing Chad Powers Season 2 as a binge-watch. The change is sort of a catch-22. Because Season 2 picks up from the end of Season 1, it’s convenient to binge-watch Season 2 as its own mini-arc. But since this is still a half-hour sitcom, it also means people can blow through the return of Chad Powers pretty quickly. And for a show that’s still building an audience, that’s a gamble, because this series is better than the commercials make it out to be. Chad Powers Season 2 still isn’t going to win any awards, but it remains good fun with Glen Powell clearly settling into the role.

Chad Powers Season 2 premieres Sept. 3, 2026 on Hulu. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Hulu.

Article content is (c)2020-2026 Brittany Frederick and may not be excerpted or reproduced without express written permission by the author. Follow me on Twitter at @BFTVTwtr and on Instagram at @BFTVGram. For story pitches, contact me at tvbrittanyf@yahoo.com.