The Umbrella Academy season 3's changes to Ben’s character may redeem Luther for his season 1 portrayal. The Umbrella Academy season 3 trailer gives audiences a better look at The Sparrow Academy, including the new alternate version of Justin H. Min’s character, Ben Hargreeves. This new version of Ben seems to have a very different personality, and there’s a chance that his alternate siblings aren’t the only cause of that change.
At the end of The Umbrella Academy season 2, the Hargreeves siblings finally manage to make it back to 2019 after a prolonged stint in 1960s Dallas. Unfortunately for them, their actions in Texas had a knock-on effect on their futures and inadvertently changed their fates. Back in 2019, the Umbrella Academy are surprised to find another group of adopted heroes in their home who call themselves The Sparrow Academy. The biggest shock is that Ben is still alive in this timeline and has no memory of them. The Umbrella Academy’s original Ben Hargreeves was often the compassionate voice of reason throughout the series. He loved his siblings unconditionally, and they loved him in return. This new version of Ben, however, as Allison (Emmy Raver-Lampman) remarks in the trailer, “is a complete d***head.”
The trailer for The Umbrella Academy season 3 seems to hint that Ben is The Sparrow Academy’s leader, just as Luther (Tom Hopper) was the leader of The Umbrella Academy back in season 1, and their approaches to this role seem remarkably similar. Throughout season 1, Luther was irritable and judgemental towards his siblings, his attitude an inaccurate reflection of his true personality and the love he has for his family. If Ben is indeed The Sparrow Academy’s leading sibling, his shift in personality may make Luther’s actions in season 1 redeemable, as the reasons for his angry behavior become clearer. If both the Sparrows’ Ben and the Umbrellas’ Luther became hollow and argumentative versions of themselves while they were the leaders, then perhaps the pressures of that leadership position and the expectations placed on them by Reginald Hargreeves are what caused both their shifts in personality.
As the leading sibling of either The Umbrella Academy or The Sparrow Academy, that sibling would have more prolonged and direct contact with their adopted father, Reginald Hargreeves (Colm Feore). Throughout the series, it is clear that Reginald is an unaffectionate and harsh father, who uses his mission and brilliance as an excuse to belittle, ignore and bully his adopted children into overexerting themselves, be it The Umbrella Academy or The Sparrow Academy. The siblings do, in the hope that they will gain some modicum of affection from him, but it is clear that he was often distant and commanding. The pressure of trying to impress a Hargreeves is exactly what Luther had to contend with back in season 1. His pressure to prove himself useful ended up with him living on the moon, far away from everyone he knew and loved, to the point where his insecurities manifested in harsh reactions towards his siblings.
If The Sparrow Academy's Ben is indeed in the same position, it would explain his shift in personality. Trying to live up to the high expectations that Reginald would have set for him would be stressful for anyone. Those feelings of pressure and inadequacy could very well manifest as anti-social behavior. If that is the case, then it’s clear the pressures put on the leading sibling by Reginald are the cause of much anger and resentment, which would redeem Luther’s ill-tempered personality in season 1. If this is the case, then not only will Luther’s actions as The Umbrella Academy's leader in season 1 be redeemed, but it will also explain the importance of how much The Umbrella Academy’s siblings love each other, and that they tried to be there for one another over the years, even if they sometimes failed.