‘Chad Powers’ Ending Explained: Does Coach Hudson Die? And Is Russ Holliday’s Secret Revealed?

When the end credits roll on Chad Powers‘ Season 1 finale, fans of Hulu‘s new football comedy will be hooting and hollering over a massive cliffhanger, while begging for more episodes that explore the rest of Russ Holliday/Chad Powers’ (Glen Powell) story.

After Season 1’s penultimate episode ended with Coach Hudson (Steve Zahn) having a heart attack, Episode 6 — written by Luvh Rakhe & Gaelyn Golde, and directed by Michael Waldron — picked up with Chad and Ricky (Perry Mattfeld) scrambling to save him despite not having a car. On top of Coach’s medical scare, the South Georgia Catfish have a big game on the horizon, and as the official synopsis for “6TH QUARTER” teases, “the truth about Chad Powers threatens to emerge.”

Does Coach Hudson survive his near death experience? Does Ricky learn Chad’s secret or can Russ and Danny (Frankie A. Rodriguez) keep the ruse going? And does Chad lead the team to victory in the big finale game? We’ve got answers!

Looking for a a Chad Powers Season 1 finale recap? Decider’s Chad Powers ending explained has you covered! Just be warned, major finale spoilers lie ahead. So read on at your own risk.

Chad Powers Episode 6 Recap: Chad Powers Season 1 Ending Explained

As promised, “6TH QUARTER” picks up right where Chad Powers left off, with Coach Hudson having a heart attack and Ricky frantically calling 911. After realizing it would take too long for an ambulance to arrive, Ricky and Chad fear they’re out of options. Wendy (Megan Ketch) isn’t answering her phone, Coach threw his car keys into the lake in Episode 5, and Ricky left her Jeep on campus. So with Coach’s life on the line, Chad knows there’s only one thing to do. He assures Ricky everything will be OK, sprints off into the woods, and heroically drives up to rush them to the hospital. There’s just one problem: He risks exposing his true identity by picking them up in Russ’ Cybertruck — you know, the one Wendy just said she boned the QB in?!

Thankfully, Coach doesn’t know what a Cybertruck is. But Ricky does… and the horrified look on her face suggests that the jig is up. As she comforts her dad in the back seat, Chad crafts a last-minute lie and claims Danny bought the $100,000 Cybertruck from money he got after winning a settlement. When they arrive at the hospital and Ricky tells Chad not to go in with them, however, he fears she didn’t believe him and races to debrief with Danny.

Chad tells Danny that Russ had sex with Wendy Hudson and he risked blowing his cover to save Coach from a heart attack. While he tries to calm Russ down and convince him Ricky was just keeping the hospital family-only, when they see her the next morning at practice and learn her dad is stable, she wastes no time setting the record straight. After Chad tells Ricky, “I’m really happy your dad’s OK,” Ricky rips the signature blue band off his arm, exposes Russ’ tattoo, and says, “You’re Russ Holliday.” Rather than explain himself, Chad runs away and Danny follows. Instead of appealing to Ricky, Russ decides he’s done pretending to be Chad and plans to ditch the final game and disappear from the team, even though it will cost then team a crucial victory.

“If Chad goes down, Russ goes down. You think people hate me now? Wait till they hear about this shit,” Russ asks Danny. “The best we can hope for is if I disappear now, Ricky never tells anybody the truth. It’s the only move left… I don’t know how far we could have taken this shit, but it was always gonna end bad.” When Russ remembers he can’t go home because of the way things ended with his dad, Danny offers to drive with him to the set of his dad’s new Michael Bay move three hours away to make amends. And with that, Chad Powers enters the Heartfelt Dad Scene portion of the finale.

Before we check in with Chad and his dad, Ricky heads to visit Coach Hudson at the hospital and finds him impatiently charting out plays. She convinces him to get back in bed an abide by The Heart Attack Rules. While he doesn’t know the full truth about Chad, he knows he ditched practice, but has full faith he’ll return in time for the game. Coach Hudson comforts Ricky and says he’s focusing on the one job he can do at the moment: being her dad. He does, however, let her know he has every intention of getting back on the field this season and with Chad on the team, he thinks they can “win the whole fucking thing.”

Speaking of Chad, Russ and Danny head to the Michael Bay set, and after Danny breaks down the Chad Powers of it all, Russ’ dad is impressed. “That must have been so much work. I’ve never seen you work hard at anything Why did you do it?” he asks, noting he hasn’t seen Russ smile so hard since before his mom died. Putting on his Chad voice, Russ explains, “I wanted to be Chad because I hated being Russ. I just wanted to hide and play football again. And people actually liked Chad. And Chad actually liked people. My team, my coaches, they all believed in me. And Chad just didn’t want to let em down. I’m sorry I stole your makeup and ran away. I’m sorry I was so mean to that sick kid and his dad. I’m sorry I dropped that football at the Rose Bowl. I didn’t mean to, I just got excited. Being Chad was nice. I wasn’t so sad all the time.”

Russ’ dad forgives him for the past and encourages him to give Ricky the same chance. After Russ’ dad and Danny tag-team the prosthetic application, Chad Powers returns and races to the 4:30 p.m. game to help the Catfish, Coach Hudson, and Ricky take home the win. Without Chad, the team — aside from psyched starting QB Gerry (Colton Ryan) — is essentially bracing for defeat. But as Ricky takes a moment alone on the team bus, Chad return to pour his heart out in hopes of getting another chance.

“I’m sorry about all this. I didn’t know who Wendy was, obviously. Russ did that. I’m Russ, but I’m also — and I’ve been this whole time — Chad. Chad Powers,” Russ explains in his own voice. “Not just on the outside. He’s real. 5/0 it’s real. This team is real. The Catfish, winning this game, us doing it together is real. The realest part about this whole goddamn thing is how I feel about you, Coach.”

As she processes his words, Ricky walks over to Russ and asks if she can touch his face. For a few seconds, she gently caresses his prosthetics, then pulls away and slaps his cheek. “How fucking dare you come here and say this bullshit, you lying PSYCHOPATH,” Ricky snaps. “You’re a nutcase. Underneath this gooey shit you are just a pathetic, disgusting, iconic loser. You almost murdered my dad, and then you murdered my fucking friend…You want to know what I feel for Russ? I wish after that Rose Bowl, where you single-fucking-handedly lost a National Championship, I wish you would have just killed yourself.” *GASP!!!!!*

Russ’ face falls, and when Ricky asks him to move so she can get off the bus, he obliges. When she threatened to “tell the whole world” and “burn [him] to pieces” if he doesn’t get away from the team, however, Russ drops the Chad Powers niceties and regresses, embracing his worst instincts and threatening her with mutually assured destruction. “If you out Chad, our wins will be vacated, the season will be done, and playing with a fake ineligible quarterback, Coach Hudson will be the one to take the fall,” Chad explains. “You won’t just burn me down. You’ll burn everything, including your dad. OR, we can keep winning as a team. You’re call, Coach!”

After realizing she had no choice but to allow Russ to play as Chad, Ricky simply replies, “I hate you.” And Russ says, “I know.” The two head to the locker room, crush Gerry’s dreams, and set out to beat Georgia for themselves, the team, and Coach Hudson, who[s watching from the hospital with Tricia (Wynn Everett).

Chad leads the team out onto the Sanford Stadium field and takes in the cheering crowd. In a twist, after he and Ricky exchange layered looks in the middle of the field, the finale ends on a cliffhanger rather than showing the result of the make-it-or-break-it game. Fingers crossed that Hulu green-lights Chad Powers Season 2 so we can see what happens next. Until then, here’s everything we learned about the future of Chad Powers from co-creator Michael Waldron.

Chad Powers Season 1 is now streaming on Hulu.