The Umbrella Academy season 2 left a lot of questions and mysteries for season 3 to answer and solve, and the biggest ones by far are all those related to the Sparrow Academy. This, of course, has also made way for countless fan theories, including one that says Lila is the reason why Reginald created the Sparrow Academy instead of the Umbrella team in the new timeline. The Umbrella Academy is a comic book series created by Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá that made the jump to the world of streaming in February 2019 thanks to Netflix. The series was a big success, and it didn’t take long for it to be renewed for a second season, with the new episodes arriving in July 2020.
The Umbrella Academy is a different type of superhero story, following the title team formed by seven adopted siblings, who along with other 36 babies around the world, were born under very mysterious circumstances. After hearing about this event, scientist and billionaire Sir Reginald Hargreeves set out to adopt as many of those babies as he could, but he only got seven. Reginald trained them as they developed superpowers and formed the team “The Umbrella Academy”, but as time passed, the Hargreeves parted ways, and didn’t talk or see each other until Reginald’s funeral. The Hargreeves then had to join forces to stop the apocalypse, but as they failed to do so, their only solution was to jump to a safer place and point in time. The Umbrella Academy season 2, then, reunited with the Hargreeves in Dallas, Texas, in 1963, where they met new characters (both allies and enemies), and their return to their “present” brought a big surprise.
In the 1960s, Diego ended up in a mental institution where he met Lila (Ritu Arya), with whom he escaped and who soon joined him and his siblings. However, Lila turned out to be The Handler’s adopted daughter and one of the 43 kids born on October 31, 1989, at the same time, and to women who weren’t pregnant when the day began. As such, Lila also has superpowers, and she was a true menace as she can mimic others’ powers – she could teleport like Five, she rumored Allison back, and she fought the guards at the asylum just like Diego did. By the end of The Umbrella Academy season 2, Lila left with a briefcase to an unknown place and point in time, while the Hargreeves were given a briefcase that took them back to 2019, but once they arrived at their home, they learned Reginald formed The Sparrow Academy instead of their team – and some fans believe Lila is to blame for that.
It has been generally assumed that the Umbrella Academy is directly responsible for the creation of the Sparrow Academy due to their failed meeting with Reginald in 1963, but a Reddit user has a different idea. The author suggests that the Sparrow Academy is a result of the actions of Lila, who might have gone back (or, in this case, forward in time, as she was in 1963 when she disappeared) in time to get rid of the members of the Umbrella Academy – at least those she knew were part of the team. The reason for this was that she was angry at them for everything that happened in 1963 (including the reveal of The Handler murdering her parents and not really caring about her), but as she didn’t know about Ben nor what he looked like, he’s the only member of the original team that was also included in the Sparrow Academy.
The author adds that this would fix one of the biggest problems The Umbrella Academy season 3 is facing, which is the paradox of having two of each Umbrella member in this new timeline, and getting rid of them would be something the new Commission could give a pass to as Lila would be eliminating those who made way for the apocalypse seen in season 1. As for Reginald, he wouldn’t be too enthusiastic about finding those kids he met in 1963 so he wouldn’t even bother tracking them, making way for him to create a brand new team. The Umbrella Academy season 3 has a lot to cover, and it’s to be seen if any fan theories have been on the right path or if the writers have something up their sleeves.