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Note: The following are spoilers for The Umbrella Academy Season 3.
Klaus Hargreeves knows a thing or two about ups and downs, and Robert Sheehan predicts there could be more turbulence to come after The Umbrella Academy season 3’s shocking finale.
The fan-favorite character, played by Sheehan in the Netflix series adaptation of Gerard Way’s graphic novels, has been through the wringer since birth thanks to his mysterious, sometimes terrifying ability to communicate with the dead – and thanks to his outrageous upbringing at the hands of adoptive father Reginald Hargreeves (Colm Feore). This second part applies to all Umbrella Academy siblings, of course, but Klaus has always had a unique fear of his father, thanks to a traumatic forced graveyard encounter in his childhood that also left him unprepared to embrace his abilities and live up to his potential. Until he gets some much-needed guidance from…Reginald in Season 3? Kind of.
To understand this, we have to go back a bit. Season 3 of the hit superhero series sees The Umbrella Academy return to the present after averting an apocalypse in the ’60s, only to find that their past actions changed the world as they knew it. Instead of a peaceful return, they come home and discover a new family living there – another team of superheroes called The Sparrow Academy, whom Reginald adopted instead after he saw his original group of time-travelling children in the ’60s.
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The exception? Ben (Justin H. Min), the Umbrella Academy’s brother who tragically died in their original timeline and was therefore not “there” in the past to meet Reginald. However, he was literally there, thanks to Klaus’ powers that allowed Klaus to always have his beloved brother by his side whether he liked it or not, even after Ben’s death. Until finally, at the end of Season 2, Ben decided to move on and “go into the light”. The family may not have expected to see him again, but here he is with the Sparrows – alive and in the flesh – behind them, returning to the present.
But Sparrow Ben is nothing like Umbrella Ben (and not just because he’s alive). Arrogant and argumentative as they come – or, as the Umbrellas succinctly put it, a “stubborn” – meaning Klaus is still very much without the siblings who spent an afterlife by his side.
“I think there’s a kind of deep sadness,” Sheehan told TheWrap about Klaus’ mindset after losing Ben, “that I think Klaus is quick to hide by focusing on the fact that the siblings are all back live together like they hadn’t since childhood.”
“And also just get on with the business of ‘okay, who else do I have? Who else do I have?’ [makes beeping noises] You know, to kind of keep it on the radar and see what other attachments in the world he really has besides his immediate family? And I think Ben’s absence makes Klaus try to find other things about himself.”
This process of self-discovery surprisingly leads him back to Reginald. Equally surprising: Reginald actually helps Klaus. Of course, just like Ben, this version of Reginald is different. A far cry from the imposing figure the Umbrellas knew, this Reginald cowers before his children, drugged with tranquilizers, until Klaus comes and frees him. He repays the favor in kind by teaching Klaus not to fear his powers but to control them. Together they make an extraordinary discovery: Klaus is immortal, and no matter how many times he dies and retreats into his “emptiness”, he always comes back.
It’s a tremendously empowering discovery for Klaus, who for the first time in his life feels at peace with his powers – and his father; A series high for a character whose trauma has manifested itself in a series of heartbreaks, substance abuse, and even the formation of a cult over the years.
“I think discovering his immortality, or at least conquering his power, has everything to do with making him feel better, feeling like he doesn’t need to self-destruct or distract himself, to constantly seek consumption,” Sheehan explained. “He’s finally got some kind of plateau where he’s going, ‘No, no, I’m as good as my siblings. I’m a real person getting a sense of who I am by going through this very painful test and sort of overcoming the pain to contain its power to sort of overcome it.
But trusting Reginald is always dubious and ultimately Klaus is seemingly betrayed by his father, who has no hesitation in abandoning him just as the apocalypse strikes again. This betrayal is not quite as bad as it first appears; Klaus finds a way back into his void just in time to escape the end of the world, and when Reginald enacts his grand plan to restart reality, Klaus returns safely with his siblings – with one major caveat: none of them have powers in the new reality.
This final twist in the season 3 finale could also prove to be another twist on the knife from Reginald. The Umbrella Academy hasn’t been renewed for Season 4 yet, but when it returns, Sheehan predicts there will be another weak spell for Klaus now that his powers — and the growth that came with it in Season 3 — “have been taken away ” became. ”
“You can be damn sure that by the start of season four — if we get one, God bless him — he’s going to go back to those very destructive kinds of self-pitying mindsets. I think it would be like, ‘You know what, fuck it. I did all this work from scratch,” and that narrative has really settled back in his mind. So I suppose he just has to find a way to love himself without having the power. I think that will be the next challenge for Klaus.”
“Season 3 of The Umbrella Academy is now streaming on Netflix
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