Are your briefcases ready? The first six minutes of The Umbrella Academy’s final season have jumped into our timeline.
In the sneak peek footage of the Season 4 premiere, “The Unbearable Tragedy of Getting What You Want,” there’s a shadowy VHS conspiracy and a parking garage murder.
Before we get into the latest hijinks of the superpowered — and superdysfunctional — Hargreeves family, let’s jump back in time and revisit the end of Season 3. When we last saw the siblings, they were on the verge of death in the Hotel Oblivion. Their father, Reginald (Colm Feore), tried to reset the timeline using a machine that extracts energy from the supernatural Marigold substance that gives them power. But in the last moment, Allison (Emmy Raver-Lampman) killed Reginald and pressed the button to reset the timeline. The siblings found themselves in a new version of 2019, where they have no powers, and Luther (Tom Hopper) –– who was previously killed by Reginald –– reemerged in a normal body without his half-ape appearance.
“They didn’t quite do it right,” creator Steve Blackman told Netflix. “The universe was reset, but when they return to the timeline in 2019, the world has slightly shifted. The last we saw of them, they all went off on their own paths, figuring out life without their superpowers.”
In the preview video above, we visit the Lake Front Inn, where married community college professors Jean (Megan Mullally) and Gene Thibedeau (Nick Offerman) flip cards in an euchre tournament. After beating their opponents, the bolo tie–wearing spouses slip away to meet with a shadowy man in the parking garage. He produces a briefcase loaded with seemingly ordinary items: books, VHS tapes, and T-shirts.
On closer inspection, the objects hint at the existence of alternate timelines. Jean finds two VHS tapes for Love on Loan 2: One stars Allison, while the other does not. Let’s just say the deal doesn’t go so well for the eager salesman.
But what are Jean and Gene really up to? And what’s going on with the now powerless Hargreeves siblings?
Find out Aug. 8, when The Umbrella Academy’s final season debuts, only on Netflix.
