[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for Season 3 of The Umbrella Academy.]Created for television by Steve Blackman, the Netflix original series The Umbrella Academy sees the Umbrellas face off with the Sparrow Academy, after they took their place in the timeline, in their home and with their father, leading to an immediate clash. At the same time, a destructive entity is destroying everything around them and the only way they can keep the universe from ending (again!) is to find some common ground and a way to work together.
During this 1-on-1 interview with Collider, Aidan Gallagher (who plays Five, the Umbrella with the ability to time travel and teleport) talked about what he thought about the journey for Season 3, getting to do a big dance number, having a familiar character make a brief return, the beauty in embracing Viktor (Elliot Page), the road trip with Klaus (Robert Sheehan), doing karaoke, and what the finale cliffhanger could mean going forward.
Collider: It’s been nearly two years since we last saw the Umbrellas meeting the Sparrows on the balcony for the first time and you guys all told me that you had your own theories for what that cliffhanger could mean moving forward. When you found out where things would go this season, was it anything close to what you thought it might be?
AIDAN GALLAGHER: It was very vague at first, as it is with most seasons. We have a pitch meeting where the showrunner goes over the basic arc of the season, for all the characters. From what I heard, I was very excited. And then, once I started getting the scripts, I was absolutely blown away and couldn’t wait to jump in because, just from the page, you could tell how intricate the writing was and all the different fun arcs that I got to go on. I had a couple very fun pairings. I love the whole road trip thing and the stuff with Lila. Also, episode eight is something that’s an incredible standout for me. I love how much bonding we got to do. That was so much fun to shoot. I was very excited from the get-go, just reading the thing.
What was the little bit that you were told, at the beginning of the season? What was the tease that they gave you?
GALLAGHER: It was probably just some summation or paraphrased version of what happens in the show. I don’t remember what was said, at that point, because now I know everything. Now I hold all the cards.
Did they tell you there would be a big dance number, right in the beginning, and that you’d be doing karaoke? Are those all things that inform you of ahead of time?
GALLAGHER: There was a lot of hinting about the fact that we were gonna do a dance scene again, and that there was a clever turn, or a natural way of putting it in. We didn’t know until we got the script what that would be exactly.
I love that we barely spend any time with the Umbrellas interacting with the Sparrows before there’s a big, full-on dance number to “Footloose” with everybody. It’s truly the absolute best. What was it like to do a dance number with double the cast, and how did you feel about the song selection and the choreography of it all?
GALLAGHER: I thought it was a lot of fun, but it was definitely something which was daunting. We had been rehearsing, prior to that, for two weeks while still in quarantine, so it was just over Zoom, trying to learn the footwork and everything. And then, we did weeks and weeks with masks in a dance studio, breathing heavy, trying to get the moves locked in, but we could actually do it all together, so that was helpful. And then, on the day, because the set is different from the dance studio, we had to amend certain things to accompany the space, but it edited really well together. I love that before we got into the actual standoff of them fighting and going at it, and at the end being displaced out of the academy, they have a silly, lighthearted, break-the-tension moment, and then it’s revealed beautifully to just be in Diego’s head.
When it comes to the choreography side of something like that, is there somebody that takes to it the quickest? Is there somebody that needs to fake it the most? Does it get adapted to who you all are, individually?
GALLAGHER: It felt like everyone but me was great at the dance. I struggled with it for a while. It turned out okay in the end.
There is also the return, although brief, of a very important character for Five, with Dolores. Was it nice to have Dolores back for a little bit, especially when you have such a strong backstory with an inanimate object?
GALLAGHER: Yeah, it was quite surreal, getting to do that, but thank goodness for the dialogue in that scene. I thought the touch of it being in Italian and the whole fantasy scenario of it really added to the romanticism and helped me play that scene a lot.
When you read scripts for this show, do you always go, “They want us to do what? How are we going to pull this off?,” or it is all in a day’s work at The Umbrella Academy?
GALLAGHER: I have faith, but it’s always a wonderful surprise to see the different things that go on within the span of just one episode. I especially liked all the stuff I got to do with Pogo. It felt really fresh shooting it, and I love the fact that the setting was back in the city again. I had missed that. Season 2, everything was supposed to be set in Dallas, and I had missed the Season 1 location shoots and filming around Toronto and it being very much a city vibe. It fit the aesthetic of this third season beautifully, so it was very fun.
I love that Viktor gets to have a moment with each of his siblings to say, “This is who I really am,” and to have each of them accept and embrace that. What does it mean to you to be on a show that can make that part of the show, have that representation for people to see, and to have it all be just about unconditional love?
GALLAGHER: I thought it was fantastic and absolutely touching. I was really hoping, when I read the script, that it was gonna be handled in a very delicate and warm way. I thought that should feel warm and fuzzy. There should be hesitance, at first, and then an immediate rush of endorphins and joy. It turned out incredible, the way that it came together in the show. I think it’s one of the better moments of that episode.
I thought it was so beautifully done and that it couldn’t have been handled better.
GALLAGHER: We didn’t know what it would be, and it felt really good shooting that scene. Obviously, I had no idea, the point of view of Viktor, until I got to watch it as an audience member and see the whole arc and how that plays in with the rest of the storyline and everything, but it was great.
We get to see Five and Klaus go on a little bit of a road trip. What did you enjoy about that dynamic? What was it like to explore that because they were just the funniest to watch together?
GALLAGHER: It was a real joy. I also love how much of that is on a country road, and the different vibe that brings, to see Five try to figure out what to do without a main driving mission behind him. That, of course, is interrupted when Klaus pulls him back in with the Amish stuff, and then the Kugelblitz ripping cows apart and making it an existential issue that he has to calculate out. But it was tons of fun getting to do that sequence with Robert [Sheehan] and with the locations we got to go to. I especially like that moment where it’s just Klaus and Five talking about life as brothers, and then ending on this beautiful, uncomfortable moment where they’re just trying to love each other. Klaus has an easier time accepting it and just saying nice things, but Five is not quite there yet, even though he feels it internally. I thought that was very fun to play, on the day. There’s probably also a lot of outtakes of us, just breaking out in laughter.
The bachelor party and the wedding was also really entertaining. What was it like to join in on the “(I've Had) The Time of My Life” duet and get to be a part of karaoke night with everybody?
GALLAGHER: The karaoke bit was strange, at first. I was trying my best to loosen up and get Five in that mindset. It was helpful that it was written that he had been drinking some scotch and there were talks with the director, Paco [Cabezas], about that loosening him up. They’re not quite where they would be at the end of the episode, but it’s the initiation of that. It was very strange, at first, and then it became fun, really fast, especially once we all got on stage and were going at it. I think that culminates in a really heartwarming way to see all the family, Sparrows and Umbrellas, with all of their trauma and everything they had been through, with this ultimate threat of the world collapsing. They were just there as a family, enjoying each other’s company and the simpleness of the moment. It was great. It was also really fun on set to just be that relaxed all the time, as these characters. A lot of times, everything is very poised, and that whole episode is just about letting go.
What was your own personal favorite scene this season? Did you have one that you most enjoyed shooting, even if it’s something that we wouldn’t necessarily think would be the most fun to do?
GALLAGHER: I really enjoyed the bunker scene. I just like yelling as Five. I first discovered this when I was doing a comic book reading. We got to read the comic book as our characters, and it was the first time I had really yelled as Five, for an extended period of time, and I thought it fit the character really well and wielded his aggression in an interesting way. It was very organic, the way it came out in that bunker scene, with his own self-loathing and just trying to accept the fact that he is mortal and that not every apocalypse has a solution. That was a really intense day on set, to try to keep that up, as the hours went by.
It must be weird to do scenes where you’re interacting with your older self. You’ve had to do that more than once on this show. Does it get any less weird, or is it always strange?
GALLAGHER: Yeah, it’s strange. The casting is really good, so it’s always like, “Oh, that feels like it’s me.” But I’ve always been more aware of the plot and what’s going on and trying to keep in the headspace of Five. Five is like an immovable object, an unstoppable force. He’s just going. And so, whenever I’m in character, I’m just trying to resolve the apocalypse. I’m trying to bring the family together. I’m trying to figure out what seems like an impossible problem. What is so mentally challenging for Five, at that moment, is that there is no way out of this and this is the end. He has to accept it. Of course, we see, by the end of the series, that’s not exactly the case, but it does leave us in a world that might not be the best for them.
As per usual, this season ends on a big cliffhanger, with everybody no longer having their powers. Who are they without their powers? What do you think the loss of powers means for Five?
GALLAGHER: It may mean that he becomes more clever and resourceful, if he’s stripped of his power, which is his main compensation for being in his younger self. We may see a more comic book version of Five in Season 4. I don’t know. They haven’t told me anything. They haven’t even told me if we’re getting a Season 4, but hopefully. I think he’ll go on mission mode and try to figure out how to make everything right with this new, strange reality that Hargreeves has made up. I don’t know. It may bring out a more mission-oriented version of Five. It’s very final, the way it resolves. It’s this new world, with them not having powers. I’d like to see some of the characters, at least for the time being, settle into that reality. I don’t know if Five is that type of personality. I think he’s still gonna wrestle with it, but we’ll have to see. Let’s hope it gets picked up.
The Umbrella Academy is available to stream at Netflix.