The Umbrella Academy tells a strange and messy story across its first three seasons. Each set of episodes features a potential end of the world for the heroes to try to stop. The characters leap around time and create multiple unique timelines. There is one all-important event that the show has kept carefully hidden. The Umbrella Academy begins their series scattered to the breeze after the loss of young Ben Hargreeves. The show will soon return for its final season, and Ben’s death will be a central element.
The real strength of The Umbrella Academy is its characters. Every member of the main cast doubles as a living embodiment of some form of trauma response. Luther lives in denial, Diego lashes out, Allison develops impostor syndrome, Klaus self-medicates with drugs, Five works himself to death, and Victor buries his personality. Ben was the lone member of the Hargreeves family who didn’t survive their awful childhood. His passing only further damaged the rest of his siblings, even the one that kept him around.
The Umbrella Academy Season Four Will Delve Into Ben’s Death
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Creator |
Steve Blackman |
|---|---|
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Developer |
Jeremy Slater |
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Stars |
Tom Hopper, David Castañeda, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Robert Sheehan, Aidan Gallagher, Justin H. Min, and Elliot Page |
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Episodes |
6 |
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Release Date |
August 8, 2024 |
The Umbrella Academy will soon release its fourth and final season to Netflix. The show premiered in 2019, aired its second season in 2020, and released its most recent outing in 2022. After two years, the series will unleash its grand finale. It’s an unusual season in that it has six episodes, whereas every other entry has featured ten. The full trailer for the final season hit YouTube in early July. It depicts plenty of the classic chaotic action that made the series iconic, along with gags and striking visuals. Set to My Chemical Romance’s “The End,” The Umbrella Academy season four trailer has a distinct funeral vibe. It’s about saying goodbye, fully aware of the show’s intent to go out with a bang. It seems fitting for a show that began with a funeral to end with one as well, but the series still has one unexplained ending it has to get into.
It should come as no shock to longtime fans that The Umbrella Academy season four will feature the Hargreeves family working to stop the apocalypse. Yet again, a member of House Hargreeves is on track to end the world with only a day or two to stop it. The trailer opens with Victor calling Ben to give him the bad news. Nick Offerman’s newcomer exclaims that the “tentacle boy” is the key to understanding the branching timelines. He’ll be the show’s focus, but some sort of glowing energy seems to be tearing him apart. The narrative becomes clearer as Five sincerely asks his family whether they know how Ben died. They start to answer, with multiple siblings speaking in unison, before realizing that they don’t have all the facts. Their expressions display shock as the dawning horror hits them. The answer to that question will likely be the center of The Umbrella Academy season four.
Ben’s Death Has Been A Consistent Mystery
The Umbrella Academy comics never reveal the circumstances surrounding Ben’s death. They briefly mention the idea that the family largely blames Luther, but they never dig deeper into the idea. The Netflix series maintains that mystery. Ben’s memorial statue appears in the first episode, heralding the importance of the character’s fate. The show explains that Ben’s death is the event that broke up the Umbrella Academy. Ben is still a presence in the show, consistently haunting his brother Klaus. He helps out at times, but the circumstances of his death don’t come up. It’s understood that the family simply never talks about it; so deep in grief are they that the mention of his passing is forbidden. Near the season two finale, Ben passes on, finally leaving the mortal world behind for the afterlife. Season three features the alternate timeline’s Ben, who has lived a completely unrelated life. He’s a radically different man, and his counterpart’s death never comes up. This issue has been quiet for two seasons, but season four will likely have to come up with an answer.
How could Ben’s death impact The Umbrella Academy Season Four?
When the members of the Hargreeves family refer to Ben’s death, they call it “the Jennifer incident.” They’ve offered almost no details, but the funeral depicted in season three confirms that he died on a mission gone wrong. Jennifer remains mysterious, but depictions of her come up in season three. Somehow, the alternate timeline version of Ben still knew Jennifer well enough to draw countless sketches of her. Season four will seemingly address the Jennifer incident. If Ben is the key, and Jennifer knows Ben in every timeline, that moment will suddenly become one of the most important points in any reality.
Ben Hargreeves has gradually shifted from a minor background detail, relegated to buddy act material with Klaus, to a central fixture. Every season gives additional attention, until he becomes the key to every timeline. Now, Ben has his day in the sun. Since it’s The Umbrella Academy, that means that he’s the ticking time bomb threatening the world, but at least fans can finally hear the answer to the question every Hargreeves family member is asking.
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