The Hargreeves siblings are learning the hard way at the start of “The Umbrella Academy” Season 4 that getting exactly what you wanted isn’t so great.
Season 3 of the Netflix series ended with the Hargreeves clan – Viktor (Elliot Page), Luther (Tom Hopper), Diego (David Castañeda), Klaus (Robert Sheehan), Allison (Emmy Raver-Lampman) and Five (Aidan Gallagher) – in a new timeline and powerless. For seasons, the group largely lamented their gifts, so it seemed that they’d finally been given a win.
Showrunner Steve Blackman told TheWrap “be careful what you wish for” because it turns out being a regular person when you spent life as the opposite isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
“They’re not loving it,” Blackman said. “It’s very hard being ordinary when you were extraordinary and the fun of the beginning of the season is: how do you go from being a superhero to being just a typical person. I don’t think – other than one exception – they’re handling it very well.”
Season 4’s opening episode is titled “The Unbearable Tragedy of Getting What You Want,” and that about sums it up according to Blackman. The family thought their powers were their curse, but being normal is a curse all it’s own.
“I think they thought avoiding the dynamics of the family, the Hargreeves curse, they’d just slip into normality — whatever normality is — and they would just be OK and they’d all be happy,” Blackman said. “That’s not who they are as a family, and they’re destined for different things.”
He continued, “The only sibling who I think really adjusts well – although there’s some unfinished business – is probably Viktor. Viktor is happy with his life and is doing well more than any of the other siblings.”
Season 4 marks the end of the road for “The Umbrella Academy.” The final season also has a shortened six-episode order, but Blackman said a four-season arc was always in the cards for him and his plans.
“I knew from the very beginning that four seasons was the right number, so I was very happy that Netflix let me get to the end of where I wanted to,” he said. “I obviously could have done more episodes – there were more stories to tell, I didn’t tell every story – but the number actually turned out to be a great number.”
He added, “I got to the end where I wanted to be, and talking to Gerard Way and Gabriel Ba, we felt we got to where the TV show had to be. The graphic novel will continue onwards but I was very happy with the ending we gave the fans.”
The fourth and final season of “The Umbrella Academy” drops on Netflix Thursday.
