Glen Powell Fans Need to Watch Scream Queens

Before he was stealing hearts in Set it Up and Anyone But You, flying planes in Top Gun: Maverick, and chasing tornadoes in Twisters, Glen Powell played frat boy Chad Radwell in the Ryan Murphy drama Scream Queens. This short-lived series may have fizzled out with little fanfare in its second and final season, but for many (myself included), this is the project that first put Powell and his charming humor on our radar.

Scream Queens is a slasher comedy, set at the fictional Wallace University in season 1 and the C.U.R.E. Institute medical school in season 2, that follows the girls of the Kappa Kappa Tau sorority as they try to stay alive in the midst of a killing spree. The popular girls known as the Chanels are the killer’s primary targets, but the killer isn’t afraid to take the frat boys of the Dickie Dollar Scholars down a peg either. 

Powell’s Chad Radwell serves as this frat’s president, and is the on-again, off-again boyfriend of Chanel Oberlin (Emma Roberts), the Chanels’ namesake. Chad may only have half a brain cell, but Powell’s charm makes him so much more than the stereotypically dumb frat boy that usually dies at the beginning of a horror film.

Chad is a psychology major, and he’s constantly reminding everyone of that fact because it makes him feel superior. So many people are constantly shocked that he even made it into Wallace University, but that’s the power of rich white guys. My dude repeated the second grade eight times, but didn’t let that stop him from getting his parents to buy his way into school. He may not retain any of what he learns when he actually goes to class, but Chad has a surprisingly bigger heart than he wants to admit. 

He’s willing to put himself on the line to protect Chanel and his brothers from the killer, partially because he’s too dumb and has too much internalized machismo to realize how big a threat the killer really is, but also because he really does care about his brothers and wants them to be safe. When not one, but two chainsaw wielding maniacs threaten his bros and the sanctity of Halloween, it’s Chad and his metal baseball bat against the world.

Glen Powell elevates the whole series to another level, and Chad Radwell wouldn’t be the same without him. Chad isn’t a likable character, nor is he a good guy, but there’s something about Powell that makes it so hard to hate him, no matter how bad you may want to. He’s selfish, shallow, and the poster child for privileged white guys, and yet because of Powell’s talent, you’ll actually want him to stick around and not get killed off.

And because the show originally aired on Fox, it’s not nearly as gory or graphic as some of Ryan Murphy’s other projects, like American Horror Story. The show definitely leans more into comedy than horror, so even those who typically aren’t into spooky or stabby things will likely be able to stomach Scream Queens without too much anxiety. 

Scream Queens is such a fun show, and a playful take on the slasher genre made all the more enjoyable thanks to its cast. With costars like Ariana Grande, Nick Jonas, Niecy Nash, Billie Lourd, Abigail Breslin, and horror icons like Keke Palmer and Jamie Lee Curtis, the fact that Powell still manages to stand out should tell you all you need to know about the show. If you’re a Glen Powell fan and haven’t seen Scream Queens yet, I truly can’t recommend it enough.

Scream Queens is available to stream on Hulu in the U.S. and Disney+ in the U.K.