The fourth and final season of The Umbrella Academy is coming, bringing with it more superpowered sibling rivalry, answers to one of the series’ biggest mysteries, and hopefully another epic dance sequence. 

As the heroes step into yet another timeline, the stakes have never been higher — and considering the team has averted three apocalypses so far, that’s saying something. But before we find out what’s next, let’s head back to school and recap how the end of Season 3 sets up the Hargreeves family’s last adventure.

How does The Umbrella Academy Season 3 end?

With the Kugelblitz close to consuming the entire universe, Sir Reginald Hargreeves (Colm Feore) tries to persuade the Umbrella Academy and surviving members of the Sparrow Academy to reset reality by going to the Hotel Oblivion. When the majority of his superpowered adopted children refuse, Reginald makes a secret deal with Allison (Emmy Raver-Lampman) to get her help. He also murders Luther (Tom Hopper) and makes it look like he's been killed by one of Hotel Oblivion’s guardians, hoping that the siblings will be motivated by revenge.

Reginald’s scheming works, and the siblings use the secret door in Hotel Obsidian’s White Buffalo Room to travel to Hotel Oblivion. As they pass through the corridor, Reginald pushes Klaus (Robert Sheehan) out of the passage, leaving him to be destroyed by the Kugelblitz. Luther persuades Klaus to use his mastery over death to return from the afterlife and warn his siblings about Reginald’s treachery.

What is the Hotel Oblivion?

Reginald describes it as a test, a trap, and salvation. The hotel is just a facade for an interdimensional machine built by the creator of the universe and powered by the particles that give the members of the Umbrella Academy and Sparrow Academy their powers.

The machine can only be unlocked through a set of sigils, and Reginald instructs his children to split up and look for them. They are further separated by portals within the hotel, which proves especially dangerous when Reginald rings the bell that summons its samurai guardians. They’re nearly unkillable because they’re actually composites of cockroaches! 

Once most of the guardians are defeated, Number Five (Aidan Gallagher) realizes that the sigils his future self had tattooed on his chest are hidden in the tiles of Hotel Oblivion’s floor. Reginald urges all of his kids — except Allison — to stand on one of the spots, which activates the machine. Even knowing what Reginald did to Klaus and Luther, they agree.

What does the machine do?

The machine can be used to reset the universe, creating an entirely new timeline. Hargreeves sets about programming it, but Allison interrupts him because she sees the process is killing her siblings. She slices Hargreeves’ head in half, revealing he was a robot. As everyone starts to recover, Allison decides to press the button to execute Hargreeves’ plan. Viktor could have stopped her but lets it happen, after Allison asks him to trust her.

What deal does Allison make with Reginald?

Allison has been angry and depressed since leaving the Dallas timeline, where she has to say goodbye to her husband, Raymond Chestnut (Yusuf Gatewood), and discovers that her daughter no longer exists. While Allison claims she didn’t know Reginald planned to kill either Luther or Klaus, she does agree to use both conventional methods and her powers to persuade her siblings to work with him. She also thinks that the plan to reset the universe will help everyone. After pressing the button, Allison returns home to find her family waiting for her.

What does Reginald want?

The new timeline Reginald creates has made him extremely powerful. He donates a park where the Hotel Obsidian once stood, which was dedicated on Oct. 1, 1989 — the birthday of the mysterious babies that would become members of the Umbrella Academy and Sparrow Academy. He also has a thriving business empire, with numerous skyscrapers bearing his name. 

Reginald surveys the city at the side of his wife, Abigail Hargreeves (Liisa Repo-Martell). She’s first seen in the Season 1 finale dying, before Reginald, who’s secretly an extraterrestrial, arrives on Earth. In Season 3, it’s revealed that she was kept cryogenically frozen on the moon, which is why Reginald had Luther spend years there. It seems like Reginald’s goals have all been achieved. 

What happens to everyone else?

The surviving members of the Umbrella Academy and Ben (Justin H. Min) find themselves in Obsidian Memorial Park after the reset, with all the injuries they suffered from the guardians healed. Luther also appears, not only alive but restored to his normal body rather than the apelike physiology he’s had since Reginald saved his life after a disastrous mission. 

However, all of them have lost their powers, and Luther’s wife and Sparrow Academy member Sloane (Genesis Rodriguez) is nowhere to be found. Diego (David Castañeda) and Lila (Ritu Arya) run off together to have their child and live their lives while everyone else goes their separate ways looking for answers or hoping to get their abilities back. In a post-credits scene, Ben is spotted riding what seems to be the same Korean train that he was spontaneously born on.

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The Umbrella Academy Season 3 Ending Explained