Luther is half man, half ape, and 100% awkward. His adopted father Reginald saw great promise in his superpowers as a child and tapped Luther to lead the Umbrella Academy. On a mission to the moon, however, Luther was gravely injured. Reginald used a mysterious serum to heal Luther, which made him into the beastly simian hero we see throughout the series. Luther’s strength is matched by his dorkiness, but beneath it all, he’s just a lonely space boy looking to connect. 

In Season 3, he finally finds love and has a raucous impromptu wedding on apocalypse eve to Sloane (Genesis Rodriguez), his girlfriend from the alternate timeline supergroup, the Sparrow Academy. Alas, their relationship doesn’t last because Luther is killed by his father Reginald in the Hotel Oblivion. 

When that timeline resets, Luther is alive again and his body has returned to normal. But where is Sloane? Luther sets off to find out. 

Did you know? Hopper’s wife Laura Higgins played Klaus’ mom Rachel Herschberger in Season 2. “I didn’t work with her directly, but having her on set was a joy for me,” he says. “We love working together.”

Game of Thrones, Merlin 

Diego is an expert knife thrower with razor-sharp snark to match. The wise-cracking vigilante can move flying objects with his mind and sees himself as the Academy’s secret weapon. His siblings think otherwise. He loves to bicker with them, especially Luther who he’s always trying to one-up. “Diego and Luther are just really funny together,” says Castañeda. “That ‘Olga Forolga’ scene in Season 2 is one of my favorites. We laughed so hard when we read the script and kept talking about it for weeks.”

But Diego also has a softer side. In Season 2, he falls in love with Lila Pitts (Ritu Arya), an eccentric superhuman he meets in the 1963 timeline while institutionalized for trying to kill Lee Harvey Oswald. The wild Lila is one of the few who can match his rapid-fire wit. When the timeline resets at the end of Season 3, he and Lila leave to settle down with a child on the way. 

Did you know? Castañeda snagged one of Diego’s knives from the set. “I ended up giving it to our fight coordinator, Tommy Chang,” says Castañeda. “He’s been there since Season 1, so I gave it to him as a gift.” 

Jane the Virgin, Sicario: Day of the Soldado

Allison has the power of suggestion; she can manipulate others by saying “I heard a rumor” and then watch as they make her words a reality. At the beginning of the series, Allison has left the Academy, is working as an actor, and raising her daughter Claire (Millie Davis). In Season 2, she lives a peaceful domestic life in the 1963 timeline with her husband Ray (Yusuf Gatewood) until she is forced to return to the present. “I truly believe it was a privilege to represent women during the time of the Civil Rights era through Allison’s journey in ’60s Texas,” says Raver-Lampman. 

Alison’s angst continues through Season 3, resulting in the biggest timeline unravelling of all. She kills Reginald and resets the timeline to a world where the Brellies have no powers. Here, she finally can be with her husband and daughter again. But will she find purpose without her powers?

Did you know? Raver-Lampman has two favorite needle-drops from the series: “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)” by the Backstreet Boys and “I Think We’re Alone Now” by Tiffany. “Every time I hear it in a grocery store or the gym …these songs will forever immediately take me back to the show,” she says. 

Central Park

The past haunts Klaus, literally. He has the power — or the curse –– to see dead people walk among the living. After discovering his powers as a teen, he started using drugs to help cope with the intense impact of being plagued by ghosts. The impulsive, psychedelic pleasure-seeker takes his antics to the next level in Season 2, where he starts a cult called Destiny’s Children in the 1963 timeline. “There’s a lot of cultures around the world that have a deity for mischief, or [a] human character that holds mischief in a quite high regard and prioritizes having a laugh,” says Sheehan. “Klaus has become a shorthand way into that energy.”

In Season 3, Klaus finds a new aspect of his powers: He can bring himself back to life. But once his powers have disappeared during the timeline reset, will he still flaunt his trademark reckless abandon? 

Did you know? One of Sheehan’s favorite guest stars was Cameron Britton who plays Hazel. “He’s a good pal of mine,” says Sheehan. “The stuff with him, Mary [J. Blige], and my character in the hotel room in Season 1 had a sense of glee that I just loved. I had an absolute ball working with them.” 

Misfits, The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones

Time and space are no obstacle for Five. As the youngest and oldest member of the Academy, his gristy nihilism fits someone who has teleported throughout the multiverse. After being stuck in an apocalyptic future, he begins working as an assassin for the Temps Commission, a shadowy group that preserves timelines. Eventually, he travels back in time to warn the Brellies of the dire future, but in doing so becomes stuck in an adolescent’s body. “My favorite part of playing Five is also the most challenging,” says Gallagher. “He’s a 58-year-old time-traveling assassin; he’s hyper-intelligent, a little wicked, and he’s got this duality where parts of him are sadistic and parts of him just want peace.” 

In Season 3, he learns that he wasn’t just working for the Commission, he was its founder. When his siblings lose their powers in Season 3’s finale, Five does what he always does: he goes it alone. 

Did you know? Gallagher kept Five’s watch from Seasons 3 and 4 and one of his ties, too. 

Nicky, Ricky, Dicky & Dawn

Ben was included in Reginald’s original group of supernatural adoptees, but he died in the mysterious “Jennifer incident” when they were young. While Ben was absent from the siblings’ lives, Klaus continued his relationship with his brother thanks to his powers that allow him to see the dead. 

But in the Season 3 timeline, the Ben that the siblings are familiar with fades, and is replaced by a still-alive version who’s a member of the Sparrow Academy. His tentacle powers remain the same, but his cranky factor is amped up. Min says he leaned into different sides of Ben every season. “In Season 2, it was quite different because he was following Klaus as a ghost and going on his own adventure through the cult. Then of course there’s a huge shift in Season 3 to Sparrow Academy Ben.”

At the end of Season 3, the new, more arrogant Ben is furious his powers are gone, and he leaves the family behind. Later we see Ben in the restored timeline on a South Korean train. 

Did you know? Min’s favorite scene is when Klaus had to barf him out in Season 2. “They rigged [Sheehan] up with this huge barf machine but it kept malfunctioning,” he says. “He would open his mouth, nothing would come out, they would call cut, and then it would spurt out all this fake vomit. I was laughing so hard that day.”

Dating After College, The Better Half

As a child, Reginald brainwashed Viktor Hargreeves into thinking he was powerless. Later, Viktor discovers his true ability, which actually make him the Academy’s most powerful and most dangerous member. Viktor’s emotions can turn sound into energy, but when left untamed, his rage and sadness explodes into world-ending blasts. When Viktor lands in 1963 Dallas (after Five blinks everyone away from Armageddon at the end of Season 1), he befriends and later falls in love with Sissy, played by Marin Ireland. “Working with Marin was absolutely a highlight for me,” Page says. “She’s such an extraordinary actor, so present, so generous. I loved our storyline.” Later Viktor discovers he’s accidentally given supernatural powers to Sissy’s son Harlan (Justin Paul Kelly), whose own rage-induced energy blast was responsible for the deaths of the Umbrella Academy’s mothers in 1989. It’s a heavy revelation for Viktor during Season 3, which ends in him leaving his siblings. This time he’s actually powerless, but on a journey all his own.  
Did you know? Page’s favorite core memory from the series is the dance-off in Season 3, and when Ben saves Viktor in the FBI office in Season 2. “What Ben does to save Viktor in this scene plays a huge part in why Viktor won’t give up on Ben,” says Page. 

Ark: The Animated Series

Of the 43 children affected by the supernatural event, Reginald adopted only seven for the Umbrella Academy. The rest, like Lila, were fated for other things. After her parents' died, Lila was adopted by the Handler (Kate Walsh), a top officer at the Temp Commission who supervised Five. The Handler trained Lila to become a covert agent for the Commission. 

In Season 2, Lila is sent to 1963 to woo Diego in a mental institute so she can infiltrate the Umbrella Academy. Instead, the two weirdos fall in love. Later she finds out Five killed her parents at the orders of the Handler. “The things she goes through with her family are hard, and the challenge was to balance that with this side of her that’s characterized by a sense of playfulness,” says Arya. “She's very forthright and very unpredictable, but there's a depth.” 

Lila and Diego eventually reunite, and after a complex ruse — including fake son Stanley –— she reveals she’s pregnant with Diego’s baby. After the reset at the end of Season 3, she and Diego seem like they can finally settle down. But in the Umbrella Academy there’s always an apocalypse on the horizon, right?  

Did you know? Arya loved playing card games with her costars during downtown. “It’s like having all your buddies around. It's like a little party.”

Humans

Sir Reginald Hargreeves is a conniving billionaire, a demanding father, and, welp, a sort of romantic alien. The dapperly dressed gent adopts the seven babies who become the Umbrella Academy — and the Sparrow Academy in an alternate timeline. His death in Season 1 brings the distant family back together, but throughout the seasons, he’s seen by his kids as a villain and a flawed father. They love him, they hate him. It’s as complex as daddy issues can get. 

The Season 3 timeline presents Hargreeves as a not-that-bad guy. Well, until he kills Luther at the Hotel Oblivion, of course. He’s ultimately killed by Allison while he’s trying to reset the universe. When they all blast into yet another world at the end of Season 3, we see skyscrapers bearing the Hargreeves name. Reginald can be seen in a tall tower with a woman resembling his wife Abigail (Liisa Repo-Martell). Why does Reginald always seem to win?

Did you know? The monocle is hugely important to Reginald as a character. “Gabriel Bá had drawn it that way right from the start,” says Feore. “It was part and parcel with the character; Reginald had to have it because that's our through-line. It’s what makes him instantly recognizable.”  

Trigger Point

Doctor Gene Thibedeau is a community college professor willing to pay $5,000 for a VHS tape of one of Allison’s movies, Love on Loan. But why are he and his wife Jean so obsessed with Allison? Played by the married-in-real-life actors Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally, the bespectacled and bola-tied duo plays a mysterious role in Season 4. 

Want an enticing appetizer before the feast of Season 4 is served up on Aug. 8? Check out our exclusive script page from Episode 1, “The Unbearable Tragedy of Getting What You Want” featuring Gene and Jean. 

Did you know? Offerman and Mullally can really boogie. “Megan and I were besotted with the first three seasons of the show, for its widely creative look, incredible cast and perverse sense of humor,” says Offerman. “We had long been looking for a production that would let us dance together in cowboy boots (spoiler alert), so all of those ingredients combined into a match made in TV heaven.”

The Last of Us, Devs, The Great North

While Gene Thibedeau brings a calm countenance, his wife Jean brings the Southwestern charm. But there's something nefarious behind her buttoned-up look and sweet drawl. “The only reason we got Nick and Megan, which was a dream, is that they wanted to be in the show,” says Blackman. “I love them both.”
Did you know? Mullally and Offerman’s characters were originally scripted as two professors who hailed from Minnesota. The actors — who are ultra-fans of the show — asked showrunner Blackman if they could change their character’s origins to New Mexico. The decision then informed their distinct looks, from the sherpa coats to the bolo ties. 

Will & Grace, Children’s Hospital 

Sy Grossman is an upstanding but shy business owner and family man. He is desperate to reconnect with his estranged (and unnamed) daughter and will stop at nothing to get her back. Castañeda says working with David Cross was a highlight of the seasons. “I've seen him in so many things, and to have him in front of us, giving us exposition and making it really funny was a treat to watch,” says Castañeda.

Did you know? When Cross was offered a role on the show he hadn’t seen any episodes of the series. So he had to fly through the series quickly before the shoot dates. “There were a good 10 days before my next shoot and in that time I started watching it,” he says. “I instantly loved everything about it. I got my entire family hooked on it — my wife, my sister and sister-in-law, my mom. So when I got back onto set 10 days later, I had to beg everyone not to spoil anything for me.”

Mr. Show, Archer, Station Eleven