Following a ‘dysfunctional family of superheroes’, The Umbrella Academy launched on Netflix in February 2019.
Based on the comic book series by Gerard Way and Gabriel Ba, the ten-part drama tracks an ensemble of adopted misfits. After the death of their foster father, the siblings – who have been estranged since they were teenagers – are forced to reunite to ward off an incoming apocalypse.
Ending on an explosive cliffhanger, there’s no shortage of material for a second run, with Way and Ba already planning eight instalments of their comic book series.
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Netflix has confirmed that The Umbrella Academy will indeed be back for season two. Find out more about the show’s return below.
When is The Umbrella Academy season two released on Netflix?
The show has been renewed for 10 more episodes, with all of the main cast (including Ellen Page) set to return. Check out the announcement video below via The Umbrella Academy Twitter account.
Hello.
Season 2.
Goodbye. pic.twitter.com/0P5VRQlP1j
— Umbrella Academy (@UmbrellaAcad) April 2, 2019
It’s currently not clear when season two will be released, although showrunner Steve Blackman has previously said it takes “around 18 months” to make each series.
That could tip season two into the latter half of 2020.
But in June 2019, the cast shared a video from their first cast read-through:
season 2 coming through ???? pic.twitter.com/UkS3J7idTO
— Umbrella Academy (@UmbrellaAcad) June 15, 2019
In terms of future timeline, comic book series co-creator Way has previously said he is keen to avoid the Netflix series overtaking the books – as has happened with the latter series of Game of Thrones.
“The goal for us is to stay ahead of the show,” Way said, “and since we’re on series three [of the comics], we are now ahead of the show. So that’s a good thing. The idea with the comic is to go right from series three, take a three-to-four-month break, then go right into series four. That is kind of our schedule to keep us on track. So there is story there and it’s all planned out.”
The first two volumes of The Umbrella Academy were published back to back in 2008, before there was a 10-year break while Way focused on other projects.
Who’s in the cast of the second season of The Umbrella Academy?
**WARNING: contains spoilers for The Umbrella Academy series one**
The final episode sees the Umbrella Academy band together against their sibling Vanya (Ellen Page) to stop her in her mission to try and destroy the world with her apocalyptic fire.
But in a twist, she destroys the moon which rains world-killing fragments down onto Earth.
It is down to the quick-thinking of Number Five (Aidan Gallagher) that the Academy are saved, as he pulls them back in time to when they were teenagers to try and and stop the apocalypse from when they were younger.
However, all of the major players, including Tom Hopper, David Castaneda, Emmy Raver-Lampman and Robert Sheehan, have signed on for season two, so that age regression must not be permanent…
In June Ellen Page (Vanya) posted a series on Instagram photos of herself, Sheehan, Hopper and Rover-Lampman alongside the caption “We’re back” and an umbrella emoji — suggesting the gifted siblings will definitely be returning to their adults forms at some point along the line.
Fan favourite Aidan Gallagher will be back to play Number Five, a man in his 50s inside a child’s body. On what it was like to film his scenes with his “love interest” shop mannequin Dolores, he told RadioTimes.com: “I started off by creating my own dialogue with Dolores in my head. That way, when I was reacting to her I was really playing both parts.
“You have to go to a place of a man trapped alone in a world with a mannequin and no one else for 45 years. The mannequin they got is very lifelike and it seems like she is looking right at you. People have really taken to Dolores.”
New cast members have also been revealed for the upcoming series – Yusuf Gatewood, Ritu Arya and Marin Ireland – with each playing an intriguing new character.
Gatewood, who played the Horseman Famine in Amazon’s Good Omens and has also appeared in The Originals, will play Raymond. A born leader, Raymond is described as a man “with the smarts, gravitas, and the confidence to never have to prove it to anyone. He is warm, dedicated and has the innate ability to disarm you with a look.”
Arya (who has starred in Channel 4’s Humans, The Good Karma Hospital and upcoming movie Last Christmas) will play Lila, described as “a chameleon who can be as brilliant or as clinically insane as the situation requires.”
And finally, Marin Ireland (Sneaky Pete, Hell or High Water) is set to play a woman called Sissy, “a fearless, no-nonsense Texas mom who married young for all the wrong reasons.”
Have any plot details been revealed for the second series of The Umbrella Academy?
Netflix is being very tight-lipped about what will happen in The Umbrella Academy season two, and series star Aidan Gallagher told RadioTimes.com that plot details are “top-secret information and Netflix would have to kill me if I said anything”.
He added: “Will it be mind blowing? Yes, it will be way better than season one. Our showrunner Steve is the best writer and has the best writing staff. It will be epic. I can’t wait to film all of it.”
If Blackman follows the comic book series exactly, the second series will see the surviving members of the Academy, stuck in the past, attempt to change the course of history and prevent the end of the world by assassinating John F Kennedy (who, as it turns out, was not assassinated in the world that Number 5, Spaceboy and co inhabit).
Way has already given Blackman an 18-page document that spells out the narrative of the comic book.
But Way adds he has a “mutual respect” for Blackman should he feel the need to make changes to the screenplay.
“It’s cool because Steve is super respectful of the source material and asks me questions and sometimes, he’ll ask me to help solve problems. Then, at the same time, he’s going, and because there’s a mutual respect, he’s going and making changes and I’m supporting those changes,” Way said. “I want him to feel free to tell the story he wants.”
“The goal is not to diverge. Not everything translates from the graphic novel page to the screen, but there’s a legion of fans and I want to bring in a whole new legion of fans who’ve never read the graphic novel, so the goal is not to just go off in our own direction,” Blackman said. “I like Gerard and Gabriel’s ideas so much, the goal is keep on trucking behind them, beside them.
“Things will deviate, but the goal is to try to be true to the source material.”
The Umbrella Academy season one is available to stream on Netflix now
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