Warning: this post contains spoilers for season 2 of Chad Powers (now streaming on Hulu).

NEED TO KNOW

• Glen Powell and Perry Mattfeld break down the romantic buildup for their characters in Chad Powers and react to that major season 2 cliffhanger
• “There’s a lot going on,” Powell tells PEOPLE as things get increasingly complicated for Chad (Powell) and Ricky (Mattfeld)
• Season 2 of Chad Powers is now streaming on Hulu

The romance in Chad Powers has been a long time coming — and that’s on purpose.

Glen Powell stars in the Hulu sports series as Russ Holliday, a canceled former college football star who disguises himself as Chad Powers to play for South Georgia’s football team, where he accidentally gets a little too close to Coach Ricky Hudson (Perry Mattfeld).

In the last minutes of the season 2 finale, Chad (but also Russ) and Ricky finally kiss after a two-season buildup, only for Ricky’s dad, Coach Hudson (Steve Zahn), to walk in on them before the screen cuts to black.

There was a lot of conversation about when the two characters would finally kiss, Powell, 37, and Mattfeld, 32, tell PEOPLE in a group interview ahead of season 2’s premiere. “It was interesting because we talked a lot about where it should happen,” Mattfeld says. “It was originally written earlier in the season.”

“Yeah, it was originally supposed to happen earlier,” Powell agrees. “It’s an interesting thing about where you create the most mess — in a good way, for you — storytelling-wise. It’s like, is it earlier? Is it later?”

He compares it to “the Ross-Rachel thing” in Friends, referring to the fan-favorite friends-to-lovers arc between David Schwimmer and Jennifer Aniston‘s characters on the hit sitcom.

“You don’t want to give it up too early,” Powell says of the buildup between his character and Mattfeld’s. “[Because then] where do you go?”

“I think it’s a long time coming, but it’s also — there’s heartbreak in it too,” Mattfeld adds of the kiss, which came after her character, who learned the truth about Chad’s double life in the season 1 finale, accepted a new job at Syracuse. “I think that’s why it’s emotional.”

“There’s a lot going on,” Powell says of how season 2 leaves off.

“I think not knowing what Coach saw — is it just that Ricky’s with a player? I mean, is it just that they’re together? Did he see that [Chad has] got something going on on his face?” Mattfeld wonders about the final scene.

“We thought about showing what happens after [Coach opens the door], but I’m excited that we didn’t,” Powell reveals. “I’m excited to let everybody’s imagination take over.”

Season 2 of Chad Powers is now streaming on Hulu.