Back in the summer of 2020, as our real world timeline was wholly invested in coming to grips with a global pandemic, the core members of Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy had their own timeline issues, to put it extremely lightly. Season 2 capped off with the team’s 1963 adventure having gone completely awry, and they returned to the present to find that not only was their father Reginald Hargreeves alive again, but also that he formed a completely (almost) different squad dubbed The Sparrow Academy. Now, we finally know when that cliffhanger will be explained, as Netflix unveiled new footage at SXSW and announced The Umbrella Academy Season 3 will premiere in June!
To be more specific, The Umbrella Academy’s Hargreeves kids will initially face off against their new Sparrow Academy rivals when Season 3 debuts on Wednesday, June 22, 2022. It’s an interesting choice for a date, since Netflix still tends to give its marquee releases a weekend bow, but that just means the most fanatical viewers will already be rewatching the new episodes by the time Saturday and Sunday come around.
Our Newest (And Cubest) Look At Umbrella Academy Season 3
To be inferred by both the video teaser below and new image above, Netflix and The Umbrella Academy showrunner Steve Blackman are clearly keeping things close to the vest when it comes to giving fans too much too soon.
Everything seems to have come directly from the Season 3 premiere, focusing on the immediate aftermath of the Umbrella siblings first coming face to face with the Sparrow siblings. Although that terminology might not be completely correct, seeing as how one member of the new squad, Christopher Hargreeves, doesn’t so much have a “face” as he has six flat sides of equal size and shape.
Because Christopher is actually a psykronium cube with extremely dangerous telekinetic powers. And I cannot wait to see how this character’s evolution, as it were, plays out in the Umbrella Academy’s quirky universe. We still don’t have much to go on as far as what to expect from the cube in action, but at least the teaser provides a close-up that we didn’t get in the Season 2 finale.
You might not think such a mild-mannered and normal-looking cube would be capable of paralyzing others with fear, but that’s definitely in this guy’s bag of tricks. Not that he needs an actual bag, or the hands to hold it. His existence might be that much stranger had The Umbrella Academy not also fully confirmed in the same episode that Reginald is actually an extra-terrestrial being. Once you have an alien whose closest companions were a brilliant talking chimp and a robot version of an ex-girlfriend, a fear-inducing cube is less of a sideshow attraction.
The Umbrella Academy’s Season 3 Synopsis
Adding to the mystery of the new season is the fact that while the Sparrow Academy itself was previously introduced in the Hotel Oblivion arc of Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá’s comic book series, they won’t be explored in full until the fourth volume, which still doesn’t have a release window locked down. As such, we don’t know much about Justin Cornwell’s No. 1, Marcus, or what to expect from Justin H. Min’s alt-version of Ben, or how things will play out between the two sibling groups. But the newly unveiled Season 3 synopsis provides some insights while addressing some of the same questions we’ve been asking.
After putting a stop to 1963’s doomsday, the Umbrella Academy return home to the present, convinced they prevented the initial apocalypse and fixed this godforsaken timeline once and for all. But after a brief moment of celebration, they realize things aren’t exactly (okay, not at all) how they left them. Enter the Sparrow Academy. Smart, stylish, and about as warm as a sea of icebergs, the Sparrows immediately clash with the Umbrellas in a violent face-off that turns out to be the least of everyone’s concerns. Navigating challenges, losses, and surprises of their own – and dealing with an unidentified destructive entity wreaking havoc in the Universe (something they may have caused) — now all they need to do is convince Dad’s new and possibly better family to help them put right what their arrival made wrong. Will they find a way back to their pre-apocalyptic lives? Or is this new world about to reveal more than just a hiccup in the timeline?
Perhaps unsurprisingly, everything starts off with a violent clash, even though one has to assume the O.G. Hargreeves are exhausted from disrupting the time stream in Dallas. And then it sounds like the group will have to fend off another potential apocalypse scenario due to that mysterious and destructive entity. (I think we can safely assume this will end up being a grown-up Harlan, who gained telekinetic powers after being saved by Vanya.) But how will the show go about correcting the team’s past wrongs? It does seem like the show is already willing to subvert the idea of once again going back in time to fix the past, since they’ve already botched things in that respect.
So will there be some other kind of universe reset possible, due to one of the Sparrow Academy members’ powers? Or, as that last line in the synopsis implies, is it possible there are no revisions possible here, and that this will be a permanent new reality for everyone? And will Klaus accept that turnout without loads of complaining and protest? Pffft, yeah right.
The Umbrella Academy will finally return to Netflix for Season 3 on Wednesday, June 22, so be sure to catch back up on the first two seasons, which are currently streaming for those with a streaming subscription. While waiting, check out other shows that Umbrella Academy fans would enjoy, and head to our 2022 TV premiere schedule to see all the other new and returning shows that are on the way.
