The Umbrella Academy meets its apocalyptic end on Netflix

Full spoilers follow for The Umbrella Academy season 3.

It’s official: The Umbrella Academy is about to meet its apocalyptic end on Netflix.

The fan favorite Netflix show has been renewed for a fourth and final season, and all of its major stars are set to return for the show’s (hopefully) epic conclusion.

Elliot Page, Tom Hopper, David Castañeda, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Robert Sheehan, Aidan Gallagher, Justin H. Min, Ritu Arya, and Colm Feore have all been confirmed to be returning for The Umbrella Academy season 4. However, there’s no word on whether Genesis Rodriguez’s Sloane will be part of proceedings. Netflix has confirmed that more cast announcements will be made in due course.

In a press release, showrunner Steve Blackman expressed his excitement over the series’ renewal, albeit excitement tinged by the bittersweet taste that this will be The Umbrella Academy’s last hurrah on Netflix.

“I’m so excited that the incredibly loyal fans of The Umbrella Academy will be able to experience the fitting end to the Hargreeves siblings’ journey we began five years ago,” Blackman said. “But before we get to that conclusion, we’ve got an amazing story ahead for season four, one that will have fans on the edge of their seats until the final minutes.”

Speaking in a Q&A on Netflix’s in-house fansite Tudum (opens in new tab), Blackman also teased what The Umbrella Academy fanbase – more affectionately known as Brellies – can expect from its final season.

“This new timeline has been dictated by Hargreeves, who reprogrammed the Universe at the end of the Season 3 finale,” Blackman explained. “But because of Allison’s actions, he didn’t get to finish what he started before Allison pressed the reset button.

“So, the siblings losing their powers isn’t going to be the only oddity in this timeline. There are new enemies who want to see them wiped out of existence, but how do they manage without their powers? Is there even a way to get them back? The stakes have never been greater.”

Blackman, who also teased more about Ben Hargeeves’ involvement in his chat with Tudum, is set to return as showrunner and executive producer for the show’s final season. The Umbrella Academy’s original creators Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá will also be back as co-executive producers, while Jesse McKeown will serve as co-showrunner alongside Blackman.

There’s good reason for Blackman calling time on The Umbrella Academy – and not least because the superhero series’ third season was its poorest entry yet. In our review, we said The Umbrella Academy season 3 was “is a frustrating mix of good and bad ideas”, which made it “the peak definition of ‘good, but not great'”.

However, there are other reasons why The Umbrella Academy is drawing to a close. As part of the series’ renewal press release, Netflix confirmed that it had extended its creative partnership with Blackman and his newly established company, which will be known as Irish Cowboy Productions.

Among the projects already in the works at Irish Cowboy, Blackman will create a Netflix-exclusive series based on the hugely popular PlayStation franchise Horizon, with a project based on the series’ first entry – Horizon Zero Dawn – in development. 

“Horizon Zero Dawn is an exceptionally well-crafted game with wonderful characters not often seen in the rank-and-file of the gaming world,” Blackman told Netflix Tudum. “Guerrilla Games has created an incredibly lush and vivid world of man and machine who find themselves on a collision course to oblivion. And yes, [Horizon series protagonist] Aloy will be a main character in our story.”

Additionally, Blackman’s Irish Cowboy Productions will develop a show called Orbital, a TV series set on the International Space Station. Blackman says Orbital will “share my love of black humor, characters who live on the edge and wild action sequences”.

For more Netflix-based content, check out our picks of the best Netflix movies and best Netflix documentaries.