The Umbrella Academy season 3 will bring new threats for the Hargreeves to deal with, but could one of those be Klaus’ cult, now with Harlan as their leader? Based on the comic book series of the same name by Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá, The Umbrella Academy made its debut on Netflix in February 2019 and became an instant hit, surpassing one of the streaming giant’s most popular TV shows. Not long after, the series was renewed for a second season, which arrived in July 2020.
The Umbrella Academy follows the Hargreeves, seven adopted siblings who, along with other 36 babies, were born on the same day, at the same time, and to women who weren’t pregnant when the day began. Scientist and billionaire Sir Reginald Hargreeves set out to adopt as many of those babies as he could, but he only got seven of them. As they began to develop unique superpowers, Reginald trained them and formed the team “the Umbrella Academy”, but as he wasn’t the best father figure, the siblings eventually parted ways, reuniting years later for Reginald’s funeral and to stop the apocalypse. Sadly, the team failed to prevent the end of the world, and their solution was to jump to another place and point in time.
Season 2 caught up with the Hargreeves in Dallas, Texas, where they landed in different years between 1960 and 1963. They eventually reunited in 1963 and successfully stopped the end of the world, but before all that, most of them were forced to move on with their lives. The one who surprised viewers the most with what he did was Klaus (Robert Sheehan), who ended up creating a cult, from which he eventually escaped. Meanwhile, Vanya (Elliot Page) was living with a family, and after an incident in which she accidentally passed her powers onto their kid, Harlan, she was able to take most of them away from him, but he still kept some. Now, with Harlan retaining his powers and Klaus’ cult having no leader, could they team up and become the new villains in The Umbrella Academy season 3?
What Happened To Klaus’ Cult In Umbrella Academy
Klaus’ cult started without him really knowing how – it all began with him being taken in by a rich, older woman who gave him all types of luxuries, and he later started to use his charisma and Ben’s (Justin Min) presence to impress other rich people, like that one time he pretended to levitate but it was actually Ben holding him the whole time. This eventually turned into a cult where Klaus was revered for his supernatural powers and deep pieces of advice, which were no more than pop culture references and lines of songs that didn’t exist in the 1960s. The cult didn’t really have a purpose nor something to believe in other than Klaus himself, because his “words of wisdom” didn’t really mean anything, but they thought they did.
Although Klaus had fun leading a cult for a while, he grew tired of it, especially of having a bunch of people following everywhere, so he ran away – but they eventually found him. When he told them the truth, the cult members thought it was another metaphor about life and their existence, and Klaus, once again, ran away. The cult lived on, as seen in the season finale, where they found a new member in Axel (Kris Holden-Ried), the only survivor of the group of Swedes. Klaus’ cult was far from over, even if they don’t have their beloved leader with them anymore, but they could have found someone new to follow.
Why Klaus’ Cult Could Follow Harlan In Umbrella Academy Season 3
Klaus’ cult didn’t seem to have a defined lifestyle or set of “rules”, and the only things they had in common were that they revered Klaus and were very, very gullible. They were impressed by Klaus’ charisma and powers, even if some of them were mere tricks (like his levitation moment), so they would be equally easy to impress by any other person who displayed extraordinary abilities – and the only person left in the 1960s with superpowers (as the Hargreeves were born in 1989) is Harlan. As mentioned above, Harlan acquired Vanya’s powers when she rescued him from drowning, but those powers got out of control, and he was very close to triggering a new apocalypse. Vanya took his powers away and saved the world from another major disaster, but at the end of The Umbrella Academy season 2, it was shown that Harlan retained some of Vanya’s powers, as he was seen displaying telekinesis.
Harlan will surely be back in some capacity in The Umbrella Academy season 3 simply because he’s another superpowered kid that wasn’t born under mysterious circumstances like the Hargreeves and Lila (Ritu Arya). It’s possible, then, that the cult and Harlan crossed paths at some point, and they witnessed what Harlan can do, making way for a new leader of the cult. Harlan will be an even bigger enigma for the cult members than Klaus was, potentially making him a stronger influence on the cult than Klaus, which could turn the cult from a peaceful group living a carefree life to a very dangerous one.
What Harlan Having A Cult Would Mean For The Umbrella Academy
Harlan got powers all of a sudden, which along with his connection with Vanya through them, made way for a lot of chaos as his powers got out of control. While he might not have them all anymore, or not as strong as before, Harlan is still inexperienced when it comes to living with extraordinary abilities, more so when they are as dangerous as Vanya’s, and as the Hargreeves are now back in 2019, Harlan will have no one to guide him through the use of superpowers, making him an easy target to become a villain, especially as he will surely grow up with a lot of anger and confusion due to his family situation (let’s not forget he killed his father to protect his mother) and the burden of having superpowers.
All this is a recipe for Harlan to become the villain of The Umbrella Academy season 3, which could be an even bigger problem if he has his own “army” of followers. As they are easy to manipulate, Klaus’ cult members could turn dangerous if their new leader is a villain. Supposing there are no more members left from Klaus’ leadership days, none of the current members would recognize him in 2019, making it difficult for the Hargreeves to convince them that their leader is actually the bad guy. This could also make way for an Umbrella/Sparrow team-up, as they could use some extra help to defeat Harlan and his cult. There are many possibilities for The Umbrella Academy season 3 in terms of villains, and a Harlan/Klaus’ cult team-up would be very interesting to watch.