Not only is Number Five the youngest-looking of the Hargreeves siblings, he also is the only character in The Umbrella Academy that still wears the group's traditional uniform. Created by Steve Blackman, the Netflix series is based on the comic book series of the same name by Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá. Aidan Gallagher stars as Five, one of the children with special abilities adopted by Sir Reginald Hargreeves who form a superhero team called the Umbrella Academy. Despite the fact that Five has a habit of jumping through time and space, he doesn't often change his appearance. In fact, Gallagher's portrayal of the character always features the same schoolboy outfit, and for a good reason.
Along with his fellow adopted siblings - Luther, Diego, Allison, Klaus, and Ben - Five was raised at Reginald's academy, where the group was trained in their special abilities. Vanya was kept on the sidelines, but the rest of the kids were turned into a powerful team of superheroes. While experimenting with time travel, Five transported himself into the near future, finding the world had been destroyed. He was then forced to spend decades surviving any way he could before finding a way back to the present.
Even though Five spent 45 years stuck in the future, a miscalculation upon returning to the present timeline led to him being de-aged so that he once again looked like a 13-year-old boy. When Five was preparing the others for the impending apocalypse, he briefly entered his old room in search for a change of clothes. Upon looking in his closest, Five encountered a full row of Umbrella Academy uniforms. Rather than fuss, Five decided he had bigger things to worry about, so he sighed and put one on. The Handler had a habit of commenting on his schoolboy uniform, particularly his shorts, but the look never seemed to bother Five - which was probably why he still wore the outfit in The Umbrella Academy season 2.
Number Five Remained In The Schoolboy Uniform Throughout Season 2
After Five attempted to save his siblings from the destruction of the world in The Umbrella Academy season 1 finale, the Hargreeves siblings were transported to Dallas in the 1960s. Five arrived in 1963 during another nuclear apocalypse. With the help of Hazel, Five jumped back in time prior to the disastrous event to gather the help of his siblings. Five was still wearing the schoolboy clothing, in addition to the bowling shoes, which he later changed out of. Once again, Five was too preoccupied with saving the world to care about his overall appearance, but there was another factor affecting his outfit.
Keeping Number Five in the same clothes throughout two seasons of The Umbrella Academy has been a calculated decision. Gallagher remains the youngest core member of the cast, but the challenge of casting teenage characters is that teenage actors can grow noticeable older even in the space of just a year. Considering the show's timeline, Number Five should've held onto the same appearance during the first two seasons. Still only 16 years old, Gallagher fortunately doesn't look too different in The Umbrella Academy season 2 compared to season 1, but keeping him into a schoolboy uniform is a way of making the character look younger even as the actor gets older.