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This article appears in the new issue of DEN OF GEEK magazine. You can read all of our magazine stories here.
The Umbrella Academy is getting their butts kicked. It’s May 2023, and Den of Geek magazine is in Toronto, Ontario, to visit the set of the superhero saga for its fourth and final season. Production has constructed a department store—complete with an escalator, display cases, and multiple levels—on a massive soundstage. At the moment, the quirky Hargreeves family—Luther (Tom Hopper), Viktor (Elliot Page), Allison (Emmy Raver-Lampman), Klaus (Robert Sheehan), Number Five (Aidan Gallagher), Diego (David Castañeda) and his wife, Lila (Ritu Arya)—is facing off against a CGI monster. “It’s a giant fight with a tennis ball,” Castañeda jokes during a break.
The quick-paced sequence unfolds like this: Viktor lies unconscious on the floor. Diego flips onto the escalator and sprints towards the top while Luther yells, “Aww… shit. We have to get that thing away from Viktor.” It’s do-or-die time, especially since this episode marks the series finale. Total chaos ensues, punctuated with crazy action, high stakes, and emotion. Showrunner Steve Blackman notes, “We hold nothing back.”
“First and foremost, I wanted to come full circle with the family relationship,” Blackman says over Zoom later about this year’s narrative roadmap. “I wanted the family to come together. They started off estranged four seasons ago. They had their ups and downs but ultimately, I wanted them to find some closure with the family. I think we achieved that,” Blackman says.
“The second goal was to answer many of the mysteries of the show, things that we’ve left unanswered or mysteries from the graphic novel [by Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá] that we’ve set up,” he adds. “A lot of those will be answered this year. The fans will be very satisfied as we finally close the loop on some of those.”
Family Affair
In August 2022, Netflix announced that it had once again renewed The Umbrella Academy before reducing the episode count down to six from 10 in previous seasons. As a result, Blackman pivoted. “There were things I would have addressed if I had the economics and more pages,” he reflects. Nonetheless, the remaining episodes cram in plenty of punch. “They are longer than normal episodes,” confirms Blackman. “They are closer to an hour. Everyone’s story gets told. I am just sad to see these characters go. I could have written them forever. The truth is, four seasons is a great number.”
Season 3 culminated with the Umbrella Academy thwarting their treacherous father’s scheme to reset the universe… with mixed results. An alternate timeline was created, one in which the Hargreeves have lost their powers. Reeling from the development, they splintered off on their own. The season 4 premiere picks up five years later and finds the family leading mundane lives.
“It’s a question of ‘What is it like to have powers and then have no powers? How do they deal with normality?’” Blackman says. “Each of them is struggling in their own way to be ‘normal,’ and I put that in quotes for a reason. How are they adapting to life? It’s not quite the world that it should have been had Allison not brained Reginald Hargreeves at the end of the [season three] finale. I think it’s fair to say the world is not going to be quite right.”
Second Chances
In this brave new world, some of the characters have embraced a more domesticated existence. Allison is in full mother mode. A mopey, miserable Diego grapples with being a father and husband to Lila. “They are not really communicating and are snapping at each other,” Arya teases. Luther, who no longer boasts a gorilla body, puts his dance moves to good use in a steamy occupation. Viktor runs a successful business. Number Five works for the CIA. As for Klaus, “he goes off on a very strange tangent,” says Sheehan.
“He is really terrified of death now,” Sheehan reveals. “Klaus is scared of dying, which is a nice little 180. He’s become a bit of a germaphobe with OCD. He’s bubble-wrapping his apartment. He is one of those boring people who is scared of everything. A lesson that he has to learn as the series goes on is how not to be scared of life.
“Klaus also sort of plummets back into drug addiction, quite severely,” he continues. “Through relaxing and getting his powers back, he starts to discover other aspects of his power. He can do other stuff. That always gets fans excited.”
The siblings sound split on whether wielding superhuman abilities should be considered a blessing or something of a burden.
“For someone like Viktor, maybe being without the curse of the family, including the power, might be a good thing for him,” Blackman says. “Whereas with someone like Diego, who loves being the vigilante with power, it’s going to be a bigger issue.”
Regaining their powers isn’t the Umbrella Academy’s only priority. The world needs saving… again. What the impending doom is constitutes a major spoiler, but Blackman promises the threat doesn’t present itself immediately. It’s a slow burn.
“It doesn’t just launch like we usually do, right from the start,” Blackman explains. “It’s a combination of coming together as a family. One of the big stories revolves around Ben, which I think fans will be craving. Every year, there is someone who has a bigger story. I’m not giving too much away, but fans know we are building toward what happened to Ben, what the Jennifer incident is, and all that will be revealed this season.”
Sibling Shenanigans
Part of Blackman’s season 4 pitch centered on pairing individuals who aren’t normally together. The combinations provided unique opportunities for storytelling and Hargreeves drama. Reginald and Viktor—two of the most estranged members of the family—share screen time. Number Five and Lila embark on a subway adventure, which gives the space-time manipulator a purpose in this reality.
“Number Five is lost,” Gallagher says. “He is using the job at the CIA as this façade of purpose that he can hold onto, but it’s hollow. He doesn’t know what his place is in the universe. When he goes on this emotional arc with Lila, for the first time, he feels there is a reason for living.”
This season sees a few kooky, fresh faces join the fray. Real-life couple Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally portray community college professors Gene and Jean Thibedeau. The married duo seem to have a vested interest in Allison and one of her VHS movies. In addition, David Cross plays Sy Grossman, a shy businessman with his own agenda. Whether the trio should be considered friends or foes remains to be seen. Either way, Blackman compares landing the three performers to “winning the lottery.”
“They are not only great actors but lovely human beings,” Blackman praises. “The interesting thing is, with Nick and Megan, I didn’t think I could get them, and it turns out they are huge fans of the show. When I talked to them, they were like, ‘I want to be on the show.’ They are super-fans of The Umbrella Academy. They knew every character and every episode.”
The cast considers season 4 as its best and most action-packed one to date. Blackman couldn’t agree more. He even cites Luther and Diego’s brawl in the CIA’s basement as one of his favorite moments.
“It’s funny and violent,” Blackman offers. “The music is great. The actors had so much fun doing it. You can see the joy on their faces as they were performing. They are loving every minute of this fight sequence. They did all the stunts themselves. They both got super-fit for the fight, with amazing stunt people. They just loved it. They could have gone all night.”
“And David was just amazing, as well,” Blackman continues. “From day one, I said to them, ‘Do my line, but if you have anything that you want to say that is better….’ The comedy that came out of the mouths of these three people had the crew and cast laughing.”
Fond Farewells
With Umbrella nearing the end of filming, the cast doesn’t seem ready to let go. For Page, the show represents a deeply personal period of growth. In 2020, the Canadian native announced they were non-binary and, eventually, transgender. The series tackled Page’s decision by transitioning their character, Vanya, into Viktor.
“In particular, this arc with Viktor is significant in a lot of ways,” Page says. “I feel lucky for the journey that I have gotten to go on in this show and with this character. I hope to get to do a series again. To find a character you love, and get lucky enough to expand and grow and experience a length of arc this extensive, to me, was a real dream come true.”
Wipe away those tears. The heroes still have a mission to complete, and celebrating their victory feels premature. Death could be knocking on someone’s door. Early on, Blackman envisioned how the series would finish. That insight, however, didn’t extend to the cast. Up until the day before wrapping, the actors weren’t privy to the last page of the script. Blackman kept the details hush-hush. Ultimately, he believes they crafted a series that gives a proper send-off to these characters but also raises plenty of questions and discussion for the viewers.
“From the beginning, I wanted the Brellies, the Umbrella fans, to walk away and feel they had a satisfying ending,” Blackman says. “As a person who loves TV, I hate feeling I didn’t get a good ending in a show. I wrote for multiple seasons, knowing how I was going to end it. It’s a very hard thing.
“The fans have very high expectations,” he concludes. “It’s an emotional ending. I find it very satisfying, and I hope the fans will, too.”
The Umbrella Academy season 4 premieres Aug. 8 on Netflix.
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