Glen Powell Embraces Robin Williams Comparisons for Hulu’s Chad Powers

Glen Powell is taking comparisons to the late Robin Williams as the highest compliment.

The 37-year-old actor stars in Hulu’s upcoming series Chad Powers, and early buzz around the show has drawn parallels to Williams’ iconic transformation in the 1993 comedy Mrs. Doubtfire. Powell says he couldn’t be happier about the comparison.

“Robin Williams was one of the greats,” Powell said while speaking on the red carpet ahead of the 2026 Golden Globes in Beverly Hills. “He really made movies that were fun in terms of the joy they gave people, but they also had a lot of heart. He figured out that duality.”

In Chad Powers, Powell plays Russ Holliday, a once-promising college football quarterback whose career collapsed after a costly mistake in a national championship game. Eight years later, Holliday attempts a comeback by going undercover as a completely new person — Chad Powers — in order to walk onto the struggling South Georgia Catfish football team.

To sell the disguise, Powell spends much of the series hidden behind elaborate prosthetics, a creative choice that has fueled comparisons to Mrs. Doubtfire, in which Williams famously transformed himself into a Scottish nanny to stay close to his children.

Williams, who died in 2014 at age 63, remains one of Hollywood’s most beloved performers, remembered for blending broad comedy with emotional depth. Powell acknowledged that legacy with visible respect, noting how Williams’ work balanced laughter with genuine heart — something he hopes audiences feel in Chad Powers as well.

The series has an unusual origin story. The character of Chad Powers was first created by former NFL quarterback Eli Manning in a 2022 episode of the ESPN docuseries Eli’s Places. In the viral segment, Manning used professional makeup and prosthetics to disguise himself as Powers and tried out as a walk-on quarterback at Penn State, fooling players and coaches along the way.

While Hulu’s Chad Powers is fictional, it builds directly on that premise. Powell says the creative team pushed the concept further for television.

“We took that concept and that inspiration and have doubled down on the prosthetics, updated it, improved it — new model, new Chad — and we’re making a hell of a show here,” Powell explained in a separate interview with Good Morning America.

With sports drama, comedy, and a transformation-driven performance at its center, Chad Powers is already generating attention — and if the Robin Williams comparisons are any indication, Powell’s latest role may leave a lasting impression long before the series even premieres.