The Umbrella Academy’s Final Season Has A Premiere Date At Last

The Umbrella Academy debuted as Netflix’s first big non-Marvel superhero hit. The series’ second season was even bigger than the first; it became one of the first major titles to hit Netflix’s Top 10 when Nielsen officially started putting out ratings in 2020. And then, Season 3’s cliffhanger went and did its thing, so now all The Umbrella Academy fans can think about is when Season 4 will happen. Especially since it will be the show’s big farewell.

Warning: Spoilers for The Umbrella Academy Season 3 follow. The Umbrella Academy’s last season brought an apocalypse different from the first two. After going back to 1963 and altering the future in Season 2, the dysfunctional clan of superheroes discovered two major fallout points. The first was their direct effect on the man who made them what they were. Having seen how messy his future experiment would turn out, Reginald Hargreeves decided to adopt a different set of children to train for his superhero school, which he dubbed the Sparrow Academy. But, as he could not see Ben’s ghost when he appeared in the past, he only adopted six new kids — the seventh, Ben, was the same in each timeline.

The second alteration was Viktor’s decision to save Harlan’s life at the end of Season 2. Viktor bestowed abilities on Harlan, including the power to sense other powered persons. Harlan’s ability meant he accidentally felt the mothers of the Umbrella Academy as their pregnancies started. Not knowing what he was sensing and in pain from his own mother’s passing, he lashed out and disintegrated their brains, causing a grandfather paradox. The Umbrella Academy members were never born, so their continued existence ripped a hole in space and time, destroying the universe.

Thankfully, Hargreeves knew what to do — it was the same project he’d been working toward by forming these Academies in the first place. He used seven students and their abilities to power a great machine that repeatedly turned the universe off and on, resetting the timeline.

Although it worked, it was not without consequences. That’s where Season 4 will come in.

The Plan Was Always 4 Seasons

On Aug. 25, 2022, Netflix announced the show is getting a fourth and final season. While fans were a little sad to be saying goodbye, the reveal didn’t really come as a surprise. Speaking to TVLine in June, series creator Steve Blackman admitted when he started, his initial pitch was a four-season arc. “I don’t know how many seasons [Netflix] wants to go,” he said. “When I started the show, I really only knew the first four seasons in my mind.”

Despite Blackman’s original idea running only four seasons, the comic book’s creator, Gerard Way, had more ideas, “stuff for another decade, and he’s going to do volumes and volumes,” so it sounds like even though the show is ending, the comic is likely to continue.

There Will Be Fewer Episodes This Season

On Dec. 13, Blackman revealed the final season will only consist of six episodes, with the first being titled “The Unbearable Tragedy of Getting What You Want.” This shorter episode count came as a shock to fans, since all past seasons of The Umbrella Academy were 10 episodes long.

The Brellies Are Back... With Some New Faces

When the universe reset at the end of Season 3, Allison woke up at home to find her daughter, Claire, and her true love, Ray, waiting for her. The rest found themselves in a park; Sloane was gone, but Ben and Lila remained, and Luther was resurrected (sans ape chest). That left the original seven TUA students alive and ready for a new adventure.

That means the core cast of Elliot Page (Viktor), Tom Hopper (Luther), David Castañeda (Diego), Emmy Raver-Lampman (Allison), Robert Sheehan (Klaus), Aidan Gallagher (Five), and Justin H. Min (Ben) are all set up to return. Also included in that group are Ritu Arya (Lila), Yusuf Gatewood (Ray), and Claire (Coco Assad). Colm Feore (Reginald Hargreeves) also is in this universe, and like Allison, his heart’s desire was waiting for him, Abigail (Liisa Repo-Martell), now alive.

The Stage Is Set For A Wild Finale

There’s not much to go on for Season 4’s potential plot, but the ending of Season 3 leaves some clues:

When The Umbrella Academy Season 3 reached its final episode, out of Hargreeves’ experiment, there were seven members left: four from TUA (Diego, Allison, Five, and Viktor), two from TSA (Ben and Sloane), and Lila from the Commission. However, Klaus’ resurrection ability brought him back, and Luther, though only long enough to say goodbye. That meant, when the time came, there were eight students to power the timeline machine; Allison was the only one whose abilities weren’t drawn out of her to power the world’s resurrection. Hargreeves held her back specifically, having made her a promise to give her heart’s desire in the reset universe.

Those who went through the machine lost their powers, as did the resurrected Luther. Allison, separate from the rest of them, may or may not have retained hers; it’s unclear. One would deduce that Hargreeves is now the most powerful man in the world, with multiple buildings that bear his name and the mysterious Abigail by his side.

Luther left to see if he could find Sloane, who may or may not remember him. But there was at least one sign she might be alive. The mid-credits scene showed this world has the never-chosen members of the Sparrow Academy, including a second version of Ben.

The Emotional Farewell Is Coming Soon

Netflix finally announced a Season 4 release date in early 2024, revealing that the final season will drop on Aug. 8.

The announcement arrived alongside new character posted of the whole main cast, which highlight just how far each one of them has come since the first season.