When The Umbrella Academy Season 3 finally debuts on Netflix in June, it will mark nearly two full years since Season 2 upended the Hargreeves siblings’ reality by introducing another group of Hargreeves siblings, along with Colm Feore’s still-breathing father figure, within its alt-timeline. These new characters will make up the Sparrow Academy, which is yet to be fully explored in Gerard Way and Gabriel Ba’s comic book series, and Netflix has been using the group divide to promote the upcoming episodes. But the third season’s newest batch of posters is wholly focused on the O.G. Academy members, and it appears as if some big changes are being made for the live-action series that could change up some important elements from the source material.
Before we talk out the potential switch-ups, everyone should take a look at all the new posters thanks to the Instagram post below.
In and of themselves, the new posters aren’t particularly complicated, as each features a character holding a suitcase, indicating even more travel plans will be set (and presumably thwarted by time-travel snafus) for Season 3. Interesting to note here is that Ritu Arya’s Lila seems to be an official part of the Umbrella Academy going forward. She’s taking the vacant slot that was formerly held by Justin H. Min’s Ben, whose death in the main timeline was reversed by the group messing about in Dallas during the early 1960s. So by all means, Lila’s continued existence technically serves as a difference from the comic book, but it’s not one that’ll be highlighted below.
The Umbrella Academy’s Hotel Oblivion Is Now…Hotel Obsidian?
The third six-issue arc of the Umbrella Academy comic series, which took nearly a decade to come together following the second arc’s publication, was dubbed Hotel Oblivion. The titular establishment definitely wasn’t a resort or anything quite so positive, but rather a mega-prison located in the middle of nowhere within an alternate dimension, with its purpose being to provide a justice-skewing purgatory-esque “home” for the world’s most dangerous criminals. Its name, in part, comes from its far-flung and solitary location, so it’s quite intriguing that these new posters reveal its name has apparently been changed to “The Hotel Obsidian.”
Nearly all of the characters’ suitcases feature a sticker referencing The Hotel Obsidian, with Aidan Gallagher’s Number Five as the lone holdout. (It could be presumed that the Hotel sticker could be on the front of his luggage, as we’re only seeing the side, but that seems like a weird choice.) It’s perhaps also worth noting that not everyone’s stickers actually say “The Hotel Obsidian,” with only Lila, David Castañeda’s Diego and Elliot Page’s Viktor rocking the full name on their cases. And the “O” that Emmy Raver-Lampman’s Allison has on hers could feasibly stand for something else, including the number 6, although probably not.
Considering “Hotel Oblivion” presumably doesn’t require any special licensing issues outside of the Netflix series and comic book arc, the main question here is why the name changed in the first place. I can’t immediately think of why Obsidian would be so much better a moniker for the massive prison that changes would need to be made. Perhaps showrunner Steve Blackman set the prison inside a giant dormant volcano or something that’ll give the hotel a more literal meaning. Or maybe the point here is that The Hotel Obsidian is really just the alt-timeline’s version of the “real” world’s correctional facility, similar to the Sparrows themselves.
I also don’t think anyone would need any kind of luggage sticker or passport stamp to reach a prison that’s located in the vastness of nowhere, but that’s probably not the point. Though I do also wonder if there is any significance to the specific designs of the Hotel Obsidian stickers.
Luther And Number Five Apparently Aren’t Twins In The TV Series
Each of the characters’ suitcases also boast location-based stickers that aren’t related to the Hotel Obsidian, so it only makes sense that they would also be clues about what’s to come in Season 3. The comic series’ third arc starts off with the Hargreeves offspring still suffering from the ramifications of their Dallas shenanigans, with Luther off in Tokyo and Allison in Wisconsin, among others. Those particular sites aren’t noted in the new posters, but it does appear as if the various characters will be taking trips in the live-action adaptation, and the easiest theory to form is that the stickers reveal where each of the characters was born on that fateful October 1, 1989.
And if that’s the case, then the fact that Luthor’s Stockholm, Sweden sticker differs from Number Five’s Dublin, Ireland sticker is probably as clear a sign as any that the TV series won’t be introducing the comic twist that those two characters were actually twins. As it was stated in the source material, only one mother gave birth to twins, with Reginald Hargreeves snatching up both of them for his Umbrella Academy.
That’s obviously not a guarantee of anything, since nearly the entirety of Season 3 is still up in the air, plot-wise. Similar to the Hotel Obsidian sitch, it’s entirely possible that the group’s 1963 timeline changes led to its members’ births playing out differently, meaning perhaps Luthor and Five actually are twins in the prime timeline, but without audiences learning about that yet in the context of the live-action series.
Or, again, those particular stickers may not mean birthplaces, and could be just as enigmatic as other details, such as Five and Lila being the only ones whose suitcases feature Paradox Protocols. Or why he’s the only one with a sideways case with a skewed umbrella sticker. Or why some of them are holding their luggage and some are sitting with it. Or what it means that not everyone is looking directly into the camera. Also, while Lila’s Berlin sticker likely somehow ties into the Berlin Wall set that was built for Season 3, Season 2 made it appear as if she was born in London. Remember when I said these posters weren’t complicated?
For now, speculation can run wild, as The Umbrella Academy Season 3 is set to introduce a slew of new characters — including one portrayed by Euphoria’s Javon Walton — to everyone with a Netflix subscription on Wednesday, June 22.
