Elliot Page in praise of ‘The Umbrella Academy’ trans narrative
(Credit: Netflix)

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Elliot Page in praise of 'The Umbrella Academy' trans narrative

Elliot Page has praised The Umbrella Academy season three for including the trans narrative which addresses Page’s real-life transition. Created by Steve Blackman, the show debuted on Netflix last week and has generated quite a buzz.

Based on Gabriel Ba and Gerard Way’s graphic novels, the third season follows the vents of season two where the dysfunctional Hargreeves family accidentally altered the timeline while stopping the doomsday in Texas, thus introducing their alter-egos, the Sparrow Academy.

However, the Hargreeves and the Sparrows clash before teaming up to prevent the end of the universe at the hands of the German “ball of lightning” aka Kugelblitz.

While the season features new actors like Britne Oldford, Jake Epstein, Justin Cornwell, Cazzie David and Genesis Rodriguez, the show also sees cast members like Elliot Page, Aidan Gallagher, Justin H. Min, Robert Sheehan, David Castaneda, Tom Hopper, Colm Feore and more return to season three.

Page, who initially played Vanya Hargreeves before his transition, is now seen as Viktor Hargreeves. While showing this seamless transition The Umbrella Academy creative team had to be extra careful to deal with it carefully and sensitively.

Page, too, has praised the show by saying, “I think one of the most special things about this is how it’s handled. It’s not void of emotional moments with the siblings, of course. I think they’re each individually special and in relation to their specific relationship.”

He refers to the scene where Luther and Diego descend the stairs. He said, “Luther’s awkwardness and all these things, these were — simultaneously I’m experiencing all that, because I’ve stepped into this moment where I’m a trans person and perceived that way, and having all these new experiences I didn’t have before. Then these scenes were resonating with that, which was really incredible.”

Talking about how the show rendered the character incredible agency, Page also added, “We don’t see that when we’re not in control of our stories a lot of the time. So it felt really special.”

He also said that while Viktor’s narrative is not the “main focus of the show”, it definitely explores “moments and themes” that are relatable to trans people.

Blackman, too, talked about the show’s future plans to explore the narrative while also exploring other facets of Viktor’s career in a possible fourth season.

He said, “What I thought was nice is that it didn’t become the storyline of the show, and with these lovely people that you’re talking to, we were able to craft something that felt very balanced and real, authentic. We want to continue to do that going forward.”

The Umbrella Academy season three is now streaming on Netflix.