The Umbrella Academy (TV series)

The Umbrella Academy is an American superhero streaming television series based on the comic book series of the same name written by Gerard Way. Created for Netflix by Steve Blackman and developed by Jeremy Slater, it revolves around a dysfunctional family of adopted sibling superheroes who reunite to solve the mystery of their father's death and the threat of an impending apocalypse. The series is produced by Borderline Entertainment, Dark Horse Entertainment, and Universal Cable Productions.
The ensemble cast features Elliot Page, Tom Hopper, David Castañeda, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Robert Sheehan, Aidan Gallagher, Cameron Britton, Mary J. Blige, John Magaro, Adam Godley, Colm Feore, Justin H. Min, Ritu Arya, Yusuf Gatewood, Marin Ireland, and Kate Walsh. The adaptation began development as a film optioned by Universal Pictures in 2011. It was eventually shelved in favor of a television series in 2015, before being officially greenlit by Netflix in July 2017. The series is filmed in Toronto and Hamilton, Ontario.
The first season was released on Netflix on February 15, 2019. In April 2019, Netflix reported that 45 million households had watched season one during its first month of release, thus becoming one of the most streamed series of the year. That same month following the success of the first season, the series was renewed for a second season, which was released on July 31, 2020. Both seasons received positive reviews from critics. In November 2020, the series was renewed for a third season.
Premise.
"The Umbrella Academy" is set in a universe where 43 women around the world give birth simultaneously at 12:00 PM on October 1, 1989, despite none of them showing any sign of pregnancy until labor began. Seven of the children are adopted by eccentric billionaire Sir Reginald Hargreeves and turned into a superhero team that he calls "The Umbrella Academy." Hargreeves gives the children numbers rather than names, but they eventually are named by their robot-mother, Grace, as Luther, Diego, Allison, Klaus, Five, Ben, and Vanya. While putting six of his children to work fighting crime, Reginald keeps Vanya apart from her siblings' activities, as she supposedly demonstrates no powers of her own.
The first season is set in the present day, where Luther is part ape and has lived on the moon for four years, Allison is a famous actress, Vanya is a violinist, Klaus has a drug addiction, Five disappeared sixteen years earlier, Ben, now deceased, is a ghost able to converse only with Klaus, and Diego has become a vigilante with a penchant for trouble. The estranged siblings learn that Reginald has died and gather for his funeral. Five returns from the future, revealing that a global apocalypse is imminent, but is chased by time-travelling operatives Hazel and Cha-Cha. Meanwhile, the reunited siblings try to uncover the secrets behind Reginald Hargreeves' life, as their dysfunctional relationships are strained further.
The second season takes place immediately after the first season. Failing to stop the apocalypse, the siblings are forced to travel back in time, but it goes awry, scattering them across different years in 1960s Dallas. Five ends up on November 25, 1963, in the middle of a nuclear doomsday, but with the help of Hazel manages to travel back ten days. While being hunted by a trio of Swedish assassins, Five finds his siblings, who have each made new lives, and attempts to reunite them in order to stop this new apocalypse.
Production.
Development.
A film version of the comic book series "The Umbrella Academy" was optioned by Universal Studios. Originally, screenwriter Mark Bomback was hired to write the screenplay; Rawson Marshall Thurber reportedly replaced him in 2010. There had been little talk of the film from that time. In an interview with Newsarama at the 2012 New York Comic Con, Way mentioned that there have been "good talks" and a "really good script", but that it was "kind of up to the universe".
On July 7, 2015, it was announced that "The Umbrella Academy" would be developed into a television series, rather than an original film, produced by Universal Cable Productions. On July 11, 2017, it was officially announced that Netflix had greenlit a live-action series adaptation of "The Umbrella Academy" premiering in 2019, with Way and Bá acting as executive producers. Jeremy Slater wrote the script for the pilot episode, and Steve Blackman serves as showrunner. The first season of "The Umbrella Academy" was released on Netflix on February 15, 2019.
On April 2, 2019, the series was renewed for a second season, which was released on July 31, 2020. The season release date remained unknown until May 18, 2020, when a teaser trailer concept was released where the main cast danced to "I Think We're Alone Now" by Tiffany. Steve Blackman confirmed to "The Hollywood Reporter" that he wants to stay in the course of what the comics are doing without deviating too much. On November 10, 2020, Netflix renewed the series for a third season.
Casting.
On November 9, 2017, Netflix confirmed that Elliot Page had joined the cast and that he would play Vanya Hargreeves, also known as the White Violin. On November 30, 2017, it was revealed that Tom Hopper, David Castañeda, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Robert Sheehan and Aidan Gallagher had joined the cast as the rest of the Hargreeves siblings. On February 12, 2018, Netflix announced that Academy Award nominee Mary J. Blige would appear in the series as the sadistic time-travel assassin Cha-Cha. Colm Feore joined the cast as Sir Reginald Hargreeves, the adoptive father of the siblings, on February 16, 2018, alongside Cameron Britton, Adam Godley and Ashley Madekwe. On February 28, 2018, it was announced that John Magaro has been cast as a series regular character.
In January 2020, Justin H. Min and Kate Walsh were promoted to series regulars for the second season, following their recurring roles in the first season. On September 10, 2019, Netflix announced that three additional actors — Ritu Arya, Marin Ireland and Yusuf Gatewood — would join the cast. On October 17, 2019, John Kapelos announced that he would be joining the recurring cast as Jack Ruby, the man who killed Lee Harvey Oswald. On January 11, 2021, it was announced that Justin Cornwell, Britne Oldford, Genesis Rodriguez, Cazzie David, and Jake Epstein joined the cast as part of the Sparrow Academy for the third season.
Filming.
Principal photography for the first season began on January 15, 2018, in Toronto. Gerard Way posted on his Instagram account an illustration by Fabio Moon of the cast and crew doing the first table read of the script in Toronto. He also revealed a picture of the first day on the set. Additional filming took place in Hamilton, Ontario.
For the theatre where Vanya performed with her violin, the crew used the Elgin Theatre, alongside the Winter Garden Theatre. Mazzoleni Concert Hall was used to represent the theatre's exterior. The exterior of the mansion was filmed at a building in Hamilton, while the interiors were filmed in studio. The Joey & Toby Tanenbaum Opera Centre was filmed for an outside scene and LIUNA Station was used for a bank robbery scene. A laboratory at the University of Toronto was filmed to represent the Meritech Prosthetics building. The filming concluded on July 18, 2018.
Filming for the second season began on June 16, 2019. And like the previous season, it was filmed in Toronto and Hamilton, Ontario, despite the series taking place in Dallas, Texas. Exterior shots were taken in Dallas such as the Dealey Plaza. Filming concluded on November 23, 2019.
Filming for the third season began on February 7, 2021.
Visual effects.
Visual effects for the series are handled by SpinVFX and Weta Digital, which worked only on Pogo. VFX supervisor Everet Burrell confirmed that he used traditional art techniques for early concept art and referenced great actors with iconic faces. Burrell called Weta Digital, who previously worked for the rebooted "Planet of the Apes" series, to develop the visual effects for the character of Pogo. Ken Hall provided the motion capture for Pogo using a gray suit to later make additions to his captures to create the CGI of the chimpanzee, with Adam Godley making the facial expressions and voice acting of the character.
SpinVFX confirmed that they delivered at least 563 shots for the series. To make the effects of the show, the team required a series of complex effect simulations, creature development, and massive destructions.
For the effects of Number Five jumping through time and space, Burrell wanted to make the effects look organic, and liquidy, representing how much time and the world bends around him when he jumps, and how quick it should be. For these effects, he used more than 30 frames in the first episodes, however with the progress of the series, this reduced to only 10 frames. To that footage, the team iterated on several kinds of spatial jump effects, all the way from heavy distortion to subtler images. The visual effects team started with some R&D tests. At the end, the final effect, called the "jelly vision", was used to make the series, with Burrell expressing: "as if you're pushing your hand through a jelly membrane, just for a few seconds, and then it pops. It's really, really subtle, but you get a little bit of texture, you get a little bit of striations, almost like the universe is bending as he does his spatial jumps."
In an interview with Burrell he confirmed that to develop the sequences where time is frozen, they took several background shots on location before returning to their stage to shoot the dialogue between Five and The Handler in front of a green screen. They called this effect "Three-Strip" in honor of the Technicolor process used in the 1930s.
The second season used 400 shots from the Montreal team under the guidance of VFX supervisor Laurent Spillemaecker to create time portal effects seen throughout the season, particularly Five’s special ability. Meanwhile, Spillemaecker’s crew recreated events surrounding JFK’s fateful Dallas visit, while including The Umbrella Academy’s superpower interactions. Pictures and references from the 60s were provided to create and later to be used as digital matte paintings and CG environments, to transform Canda into the show's setting, 1960s Dallas.
The opening scene where the siblings fight the Soviets in Dallas street on the opening scene was the most complicated to do, being nearly completely CGI. It was released on a 360 degree bluescreen backlot set which was 15 feet tall and 200 feet by 60 feet. The only real things that weren't made of CGI, were the tank, soldiers, cast and the rubble on the ground. The set was LiDAR scanned so that the director, Sylvian White could walk around using a VR edition of the iPad. They used a Phantom running at 700 frames per second on a camera stick. The scene was also divided in seven parts, beginning with Number Five's arrival at 1963, and concluding before Diego's first lines. For safety reasons the crew couldn't fire the AK-47s at Diego so they were forced to do multiple passes.
Reception.
Audience viewership.
On April 16, 2019, Netflix announced that the series had been streamed by over 45 million viewers on its service within its first month of release, with people at least having watched 70% percent of one episode of the series. It was the third most popular TV series on Netflix in 2019. On September 3, 2020 Netflix revealed the show broke numerous records in viewerships, following the second season debut. During the second season first week, the show was the most watched television series show on Netflix, being atop of the Nielsen ratings and thus confirming that 3 billion minutes of the show's two seasons were viewed. On October 21, 2020 Netflix published the Nielsen ratings and revealed that the show's second season was streamed by over 43 million viewers in its first 28 days. It made it the 6th most watched show of that year, falling behind shows like The Queen's Gambit and Ratched.
Critical reception.
Season 1.
On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 75% of 88 critic reviews are positive for the first season, with an average rating of 7.2/10. Critics' consensus on the website reads, ""The Umbrella Academy" unfurls an imaginative yarn with furtive emotion and an exceptionally compelling ensemble, but the series' dour sensibility often clashes with its splashy genre trappings." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the season a score of 61 out of 100 based on 22 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
Merrill Barr from "Forbes" praised the series, and wrote, "If you're looking for a pulpy show with lots of action, melodramatic plotting and eccentric characters then "The Umbrella Academy" is your ticket." Lorraine Ali from "Los Angeles Times" in a positive review wrote, ""The Umbrella Academy" stands out among the countless other superhero series splashed across billboards and your viewing queues." Catherine Gee from the "Daily Telegraph" give the series a positive response and commented, "If it does return for a second run, it would be nice to see some more genuinely fresh ideas - without the over-reliance on tried, tested and tired tropes from years past." Adam Graham from "The Detroit News" commented the series is a worth enrollment, praising the series for its themes about a dysfunctional family and the characters. Kambole Campbell from "Little White Lies" considered the series as something to enjoy with a plenty surprises for the one who have not read the comics, and praised the way that the series interpreted the abusive parental childhood relationship and how at the end this affect the children in their adulthood.
In a more negative way, Kelly Lawler from the "USA Today" commented, "The series reeks of undeveloped potential. It looks beautiful and has an incredible cast, yet often drags. After a solid first episode, the plot is excruciatingly slow, pausing in all the wrong places." Alan Sepinwall from the "Rolling Stone" wrote, "Umbrella Academy suggests a musical trapped in the body of one of Netflix's more tedious Marvel Comics vigilante dramas... It's a particularly egregious "four episodes worth of plot in a 10-episode bag" offender."
Some critics pointed out similarities between "The Umbrella Academy", DC Universe's "Doom Patrol" and Marvel Comics's "X-Men" series, both positively and negatively.
Some Jewish writers have criticized "The Umbrella Academy" for its portrayal of the Handler. In particular, her use of a Yiddish idiom and her membership in a secret society that discreetly causes catastrophic events were together perceived as an antisemitic stereotype of Jewish people secretly and malevolently controlling world events. Amanda Bowman, Vice President of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, wrote that "The use of a Yiddish saying by the evil boss of an organisation which controls the world’s timeline is clearly an anti-Semitic trope." The Handler was again shown speaking Yiddish in the second season, leading some to complain that the show hadn't done enough to address Jewish viewers' concerns.
Season 2.
For the second season, Rotten Tomatoes identified 90% of 83 reviews as positive, with an average rating of 7.84/10. The website's critical consensus states, "Proof that time can heal almost all wounds, "The Umbrella Academy" exhilarating second season lightens its tonal load without losing its emotional core, giving the super siblings room to grow while doubling down on the time traveling fun." The season garnered a weighted average score of 67 out of 100 from 12 critics on Metacritic, signifying "generally favorable reviews".
Scott Bryan from "BBC" commented " The less you think about the plot, the more you enjoy the ride, and the funnier and more interesting it is too." Caroline Siede from "The A.V. Club" in a positive review wrote "This season two premiere delivers a stronger, better version of The Umbrella Academy-one that finally starts to pay off the promise of the series." Laura Prudom of "IGN" praised the series for its action sequences, soundtrack, and the themes about family, and considered it an improvement of the previous season. Tom Long from "The Detroit News" give a positive response for its representation of LGBT and race issues. Richard Lawson from "The Vanity Fair" praised the visual effects, and considered the season to be sleeker and more vivid comparing it with the first season. Sabrina Barr from "The Independent" commented: "Employing dry Wes Anderson-style humour and end-of-the-world exploits worthy of "Heroes", the second season of "The Umbrella Academy" is just as – if not more – wacky than the first." Lacy Baugher of "Paste" praised the series for not being like any other superheroes movie or series, giving a positive response about its family themes, and the siblings struggles and addictions.
Kathryn VanArendonk from "Vulture" criticized the series for being nonsense and illogical, and considered that the humor and styles was the only thing that helped the series to distract from "the yawning chasm of nonsense". Stuart Jeffries from "The Guardian" was critical of the series for its lack of ideas and unoriginality, and compared it with "Back to the Future" and "". Steve Greene from "IndieWire" give a negative response to the new season, and considered that the story and the apocalypse plot was derivative from the previous season, and that also lacked of heart or emotion.