It has been over a month since the second season of The Umbrella Academy released on Netflix and by now, you either have watched it or you’ve definitely stumbled across multiple spoilers.
The series has become an instant top series on Netflix and it did not disappoint in its second round. Of course, the worldwide audience is now expecting to hear that the series will be renewed for a third season, even if we might have to wait longer for them to shoot and release it due to the ongoing COVID restrictions.
On the bright side, this gives us more time to get hyped up and see how the series may continue, and if there is a chance to pick something from the graphic novels or if the show will do its own thing from now on.
Before we focus on the potential plot of season 3, let’s do a little refresher of what has happened in the first two seasons.
On October 1st, 1989, 43 children have been born to mothers who at the beginning of this day haven not been pregnant. Fascinated by that, Sir Reginald Hargreeves has traveled around the world to adopt these children, but only seven mothers agreed. Not bothering to give them names, Hargreeves calls them by the numbers one to seven and trains them to use their superhuman powers to become The Umbrella Academy. After one brother died and another disappeared, the eventually go in different directions, losing contact with each other at some point.
That is, until one day, they received the information that their father has died and they all meet again to bury his ashes. Followed by being reunited with the brother who disappeared years ago, he informs them that he time travelled to the future and has only a couple of days left to find out what has caused the nearing apocalypse. Fast forward 10 episodes, we know the who and we know the how. Unfortunately, that did not help and Five has to save his siblings by time travelling into the past.
This is where season two picks up. Instead of only travelling back a couple of days, the siblings get split up during the time jump and find themselves in different years within the 1960s and unfortunately, the apocalypse has travelled back with them. Once again they have only a handful of days left to not only try to save the world again, but while they are at it, save the President of the United States, J.F. Kennedy.
If you are interested in a more detailed recap of the first two seasons, check out our episodic Season 1 and Season 2 recaps.
So, now that we are all up to date, let’s break down what kind of plot season 3 could give us.
I think it is safe to say that at least a bit of the third graphic novel, Hotel Oblivion, will be brought into the series. Not only has showrunner Steve Blackman revealed that he has hidden 43 sparrows during the second season, but we saw the Sparrow Academy at the end of season two as well.
Keeping in mind that firstly, we have a new timeline, which could be because of Harlan who has a bit of Vanya’s powers within him. Second, there has always been 36 other children across the globe who have been born the same day as the original seven and have supernatural powers themselves, so it is quite obvious that we had to meet some more of them (points to Lila). Taking a look at the graphic novel, robo mother Claire brought Vanya to her “real family” at the end of it, which turned out to be the Sparrow Academy.
The showrunners decided to give Justin Min’s character Ben a second chance to be alive and turned him from number 6 to 1. Keeping in mind that Ben was the one who saved Vanya while sacrificing his ghost self, it could be possible that he might be the reason why she would turn her back on the Umbrellas and join the Sparrows.
Besides the two academies, what could be the main plot of season three? Of course, fixing the timeline should be priority one. It would be great if the show could pick up the story of the super hidden prison, Hotel Oblivion, for the world most crazy villains with superpowers, maybe showing what has happened with some of those gifted children that went down the wrong path.
But what they must focus on is to tell us more about Hargreeves! If you have read the graphic novels, you know what he his and know how he is connected to the 43 gifted children. At the end of season one, there is even a short scene hinting at it. Now with another short scene in season two, it is quite obvious that Hargreeves is what we call an alien and that the 43 children are some kind of alienish too. This alone could fill half of a season if you ask me.
Despite the general plot, we want to see some character developments as well. To quote the blurb of the first issue of the third graphic novel: “Number Five is a hired gun, Kraken stalks big game, Rumor is dealing with the wreckage of her marriage, a rotund Spaceboy runs around the streets of Tokyo, Vanya continues her physical therapy after being shot in the head‚ and no one wants to even mention Seance until issue #2.“
Well, when it come to Luther two things are possible for him. One is to follow his graphic novel path and leave everyone behind, not giving two cents about anything and anyone, or to stay because of the chance to have Ben back in his live and to deal with his clearly still not resolved daddy issues. Personally, I think that Luther has to change drastically because otherwise he will turn out to be very unimportant to the family and the story.
Diego had quite the impressive character development in season two. Do not get me wrong, I still think that Luther and Diego are more alike than they would ever consider possible, mainly when it comes to Reggie, but for me, Diego has the chance to become the new number 1 of the Umbrella Academy. I mean, have you picked up how he used his powers in the battle against the company?! He literally stopped a ton of bullets! Only Vanya was able to impress me with her power, but we will come to that soon enough.
In the graphic novel, Allison takes care of Vanya while she recovers from the shot in the head whilst also trying to see her daughter again. In the show, she started a political revolution and was able to do that for most of the time without rumouring anyone. She clearly has a strong persona and found some new confidence, but when it comes to her heart, I am not sure how she will keep coping with loss. She fell for Luther as a child, but married someone else later and became a mother. She gets divorced and is not allowed to see her daughter. In the 1960s, she marries once more and loses her husband again. When she returns to their time, there could be a possibility that her daughter may have never been born. I have no idea how her story could continue, but I wish for her to see Claire again, make peace with herself, and put her powers to good use.
Dear Klaus, what will you do now after you had your last goodbye from Dave and continue living without having Ben on your side? We do know what a sober Klaus looks like and it is nice to see that he does not need alcohol or drugs to be awesome or to cope with his powers. I still believe that we have not seen all that Klaus is capable to do. In the first episode of the second season, we see how he commands an army of ghosts to fight and I really want to see more of that.
I can see Five becoming bonkers after realising that he has messed up again, and turning into a hitman for one episode, followed by getting back on track and fixing the mess he has made. Yes, I blame it on Five. The little know-it-all should learn to work together with his siblings. I want to see a vulnerable Five, one that does not hide behind the thick walls he has surrounded himself during his time in a post-apocalyptic world.
Ben, Ben, Ben. Oh, how much I wish for Umbrella Ben to be alive and well. I think it is possible, because in this show everything is possible, right? But now that the Hargreeves siblings have to face an alternative version of their late brother, we may get to know more about the original timeline Ben’s death. Needless to say, that Ben has evolved his powers as his ghost persona, being the only one who could get near Vanya and save her. It would be interesting to see how much Sparrow Ben is different from Umbrella Ben and if their might share some things, like their love for books and their power, because it was clear in that one second we saw him at the end of season two that their might not share the same empathy.
Last, but never least, what about Vanya? Just like her graphic novel counterpart, she had to recover from amnesia and get to know herself once again. With no negative emotions of her childhood, Vanya was able to channel her powers and use them better this time around. She seems to be in control of them. Now that she remembers her past, what is her role in this new family? She is by far the strongest one of them. She may be even responsible for the new timeline if I interpret the hint correctly that a bit of her power stayed in Harlan, after she gained them back.
I can’t forget to mention Lila because we definitely need more of her and I want to see Diego happy again. After all, she is one of those other 36 children born on October 1st and something tells me that she would make season three so much more fun.
I am positive that we will get to see a third season even if we have to wait for quite some time, but I cannot imagine that Netflix would cancel this show as it has done with others due to the ongoing pandemic restrictions. Who knows, maybe we will be blessed by an even longer season with more episodes to binge watch through.
