Shortly after Netflix announced its season 4 order, The Umbrella Academy's Allison actor Emmy Raver-Lampman has reacted to the show's final season renewal. The Hamilton alum stars in the series adaptation of Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá's graphic novels as Allison Hargreeves, also known as the Rumor or Number Three, who possesses the ability to control people's minds by uttering the phrase "I heard a rumor...". Allison has endured a variety of emotional hurdles throughout The Umbrella Academy's three seasons, including her feelings for her adoptive brother Luther, losing her voice and getting married in the 1960s-set season 2 and returning to a present in which she doesn't exist and therefore her daughter no longer does either.
Alongside Raver-Lampman, the ensemble cast for The Umbrella Academy includes Elliot Page, Tom Hopper, David Castañeda, Robert Sheehan, Aidan Gallagher, Adam Godley, Colm Feore, Justin H. Min, Ritu Arya, Yusuf Gatewood and Genesis Rodriguez. After debuting to generally positive reviews, the superhero series has garnered critical acclaim in its last two seasons, with critics praising its better tonal balance, character development and mind-bending apocalyptic adventures. With the show proving a modest ratings hit throughout its run, Netflix recently granted The Umbrella Academy a season 4 renewal to close out its story and now one star is opening up about the impending finish.
While speaking exclusively with Screen Rant to discuss Central Park season 3, Emmy Raver-Lampman opened up about The Umbrella Academy's final season renewal. The Allison actor described it as a "bittersweet" feeling, but expressed her gratitude to Netflix for allowing her and her costars to properly close out the show, of which many "don't get that opportunity." See what Raver-Lampman said below:
It’s definitely bittersweet. I think we all feel very blessed and very lucky that we are going into the fourth season knowing it's the end because a lot of shows don't get that opportunity. And we get to close out this chapter and these characters’ stories with a proper ending that they deserve and that the fans deserve. And that's really exciting. I don't know that I'd be sitting here without Alison Hargreeves and without The Umbrella Academy. That show changed my life. I'd never been in front of a camera ever, until my first day of working on The Umbrella Academy. And that just is and felt like such an unbelievable gift that continues to give.
So I'm definitely sad to close that chapter, but I think it's time. There are so many shows that go on for many, many, many, many, many seasons and that's amazing, but I think like these characters and this story, I think we're all excited but feel like this is the right move. This is the right choice. But I think we're all excited to go back. I'm not looking forward to that last day on set, though, I'm going to be a wreck.
With Way and Bá's source graphic novels still having multiple issues yet to publish, and the show proving nearly as much of a hit as fellow Netflix titles The Witcher and Stranger Things, it's understandable some were surprised by the confirmation that The Umbrella Academy season 4 would be the show's last. Much like Raver-Lampman, though, there were many who responded to the news with a mixture of bittersweet and appreciation, as it would give the writers the chance to properly close out the show, rather than run the risk of overstaying its welcome with audiences. Now that both Stranger Things and The Umbrella Academy will be concluding their runs with their next seasons, it will be interesting to see if The Witcher can fill the big viewership gap left by the sci-fi/horror series.
While some may have been surprised, The Umbrella Academy showrunner Steve Blackman did previously tease the possibility that season 4 would be the final chapter for the superhero series, believing he and his writing team were heading towards an endgame for the Hargreeves siblings. Given The Umbrella Academy season 3 saw the group in a new universe without their powers and their secretly alien father set up as their next major antagonist, Blackman seems to have set he and his writer's room up for an emotional final season. While audiences await more The Umbrella Academy season 4 details, they can catch Raver-Lampman returning to the animated field with Central Park season 3 premiering on Apple TV+ on September 9.