Glen Powell’s Best Role is Still as a Horror Himbo in ‘Scream Queens’

Before Scream Queens began airing back in 2015, it’s likely you didn’t know Glen Powell‘s name. But his performance as a series regular in the first season of the Ryan Murphy show left a mark — and to this day, it’s still his best role.

That year, viewers witnessed a breakout performance from Powell in real time as Chad Radwell, an out-of-touch, rich frat boy who golfs on the campus quad and loves to flex his psychology major (even though it’s clear he’s learning nothing).

Since then, he’s captured hearts as the swoony lead in the Netflix rom-com Set It Up, contributed to the strong ensembles of films like Everybody Wants Some!! and Hidden Figures, and finally enjoyed a long-delayed second breakout moment following the release of Top Gun: Maverick. Next, he’ll lead Hit Man, a festival darling that he cowrote with Richard Linklater; the acclaimed film was bought for distribution by Netflix.

If Glen Powell is one thing, it’s a scene-stealer. After losing out on Top Gun: Maverick’s second lead role to Miles Teller, he was cast in an antagonist role best described as “Iceman-lite.” As Top Gun: Maverick reaches its thrilling climax, Powell’s Hangman swoops in and saves the day. Set It Up’s Charlie turns his life around and gets the girl. In Devotion, Powell channels an affable and courageous real-life war hero.

In all of those movies, he takes every moment of screen time he gets in that movie and thoroughly charms us — but to those of us who watched Scream Queens, it’s not surprising. He stole every scene there, too, as hypersexual, death-obsessed Chad Radwell.

Chad Radwell is a narcissist who mostly makes everything worse, and honestly, we can’t help but love him for that. 

For those who don’t know, Scream Queens, which aired for two seasons on Fox, is a slasher comedy from the same team behind Glee and American Horror Story. Season 1 followed the sisters of Kappa Kappa Tau sorority, under the leadership of it-girl Chanel Oberlin (Emma Roberts), as they’re targeted by a serial killer dressed in the university’s Red Devil mascot costume. Every it-girl needs her it-guy, and that’s where Chad Radwell comes in.

(Even if he’s also sleeping with nearly every other woman on the show, from Lea Michele’s Hester to Jamie Lee Curtis’ Dean Cathy Munsch and security guard Denise Hemphill, played by Niecy Nash.)

Chad is the perfect compliment to Chanel — they’re both flawed, vain, and, frankly, flat-out problematic — except he’s useless in the face of danger, and Chanel, for all of her own flaws, is fearless in comparison. With any other actor, Chad Radwell could have been one-dimensionally awful, but Powell elevated it with some real complexity.

Take, for example, the scenes from Season 1, Episode 3 where Chad proclaims that his best friend and fraternity brother Boone was murdered despite being told his death was a suicide. He decides that the best course of action to avenge him is to “‘roid out” and goad the Red Devil killer into physically fighting him and the other Dickie Dollar Scholars.

It’s a stupid idea, and anyone watching knows it, but because Powell imbues such a genuine belief that they’re doing the right thing, you can’t help but root for the guy. Like maybe there’s a chance that his idea to take the Red Devil on in a Backstreet Boys-inspired street fight might actually work out the way he hopes it will.

Then, just as quickly as your faith in Chad grew, “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)” kicks in, and any belief that he might be onto something good is squandered with an immediate reminder that, above all else, Chad Radwell is an idiot.

“I thought this would be a lot easier,” he pants, after exerting very little physical energy but before the Red Devil even makes himself known to them. And then the Red Devils appear, and, well… Chad never stood a chance.

(And neither did poor Caulfield’s arms, which he’d still have if Chad weren’t completely useless.)

Watching Scream Queens today, knowing Glen Powell as we perceive him today, you’ll see just how different Chad Radwell is to any of the roles we may know him best from (or even him in real life, based on his Instagram persona).

Whether that’s Hangman, Charlie in Set It Up, or Lt. Tom Hudner in Devotion, you’ll find that Chad Radwell gives off a completely different energy. It’s even wildly different from some of his upcoming roles, like a remake of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid for Prime Video that’ll see him play the Sundance Kid opposite Rege-Jean Page’s Butch. 

Chad Radwell, as Powell plays him, is afraid of everything but completely unafraid to be downright unlikeable. And that is exactly why eight years on, Chad Radwell is still Powell’s best role. 

Scream Queens is streaming on Hulu.