Ben Hargreeves is still alive in The Umbrella Academy season 3's new timeline - but how is this the case? Set in a timeline altered by the Umbrella Academy's actions in 1960s Dallas, season 3 will introduce Reginald Hargreeves' Sparrow Academy—a group fundamentally different from the Umbrellas audiences have watched for two seasons. An angrier Ben appears to lead the Sparrows in The Umbrella Academy season 3, leaving audiences to wonder exactly how he survived in this newest timeline.
After successfully saving the world from destruction in The Umbrella Academy season 1, the Umbrellas find themselves scattered across 1960s Dallas, Texas. After dealing with some of their family issues, struggling to stop the Kennedy assassination, and meeting another of the 43 superpowered kids referenced in season 1, they all jump together back to 2019—but it isn't the 2019 any of them recognize. Strangers inhabit their home, Reginald is alive, and Ben is not only alive but, according to Allison in the trailer for The Umbrella Academy season 3, "a complete dickhead."
However, perhaps the most significant difference between the Umbrellas and the Sparrows introduced in season 3 is team unity. By 2019, the Umbrella Academy had already fallen to infighting, with the loss of Ben and Five exacerbating issues the family already had. On the other hand, the Sparrows all still seem to live together and work as a team - and this unity suggests that Reginald was more successful in building a team this go around. That unity best explains why Ben is still alive in this timeline - with the Sparrow Academy member never dying in the Sparrow's chronology. Another possibility lies in Ben being more powerful in the new timeline because he was treated like a leader and given more attention by Reginald, which again could have helped him avoid death in the Sparrow's continuity.
It isn't known how Ben died in the original timeline. At his funeral, Reginald blames Ben's death on the Umbrella Academy, suggesting that a mistake made by the team was responsible. Given how dysfunctional their family dynamic is and how displeased every version of Reginald who has met them has been, it's not a stretch to consider it likely that the Umbrella's lack of unity might have put Ben in danger, ultimately killing him.
Taking Reginald's word at face value is difficult when he's been shown to be so manipulative, abusive, and harsh with his children across the first two seasons of The Umbrella Academy. Perhaps it wasn't a breakdown in unity that killed Ben in the original timeline, but just that Ben hadn't been well-prepared. In the new timeline, Ben appears to be the leader of the Sparrows, and such a position might have afforded him more attention and care by Reginald, in turn helping him develop his powers more fully and keeping him from dying when he came up against whatever it was that killed him. If the Sparrows' Ben is stronger, it tracks that he'd be more likely to survive until 2019.
A lot of uncertainty surrounds Ben's death, and even the original Umbrella Academy comics have yet to answer just how he died. Perhaps the newest season will reveal that secret and more. Whether it does or not, however, The Umbrella Academy season 3 is sure to give more details on Reginald, the Sparrows, and how the Ben is alive in the new timeline.