Warning: Contains potentially triggering content about transphobia.
In The Umbrella Academy season 3, Elliot Page's character Viktor Hargreeves came out as transgender, corresponding to the actor's transition in real life, but his story was actually set up years ago. Viktor, a.k.a. Number Seven, uses a different name and she/her pronouns throughout The Umbrella Academy season 1 and season 2. He starts the series as an outcast among his adopted siblings and is the only one with no superpowers—or so they think. Viktor discovers in season 1 that not only does he have powers, but his adopted father, Sir Reginald Hargreeves, had purposefully hidden them from him. Viktor subsequently learns more about himself and becomes more comfortable in his skin.
Elliot Page came out as a lesbian in 2014, years before The Umbrella Academy aired. While still presenting as a woman in The Umbrella Academy season 2, Viktor has a romantic relationship with a woman, confirming the character is also queer. Then, in 2021, Page came out as non-binary and transgender, using the pronouns he/him and they/them. Fans didn't initially know what this would mean for the character of Number Seven, but Page revealed in March 2022 that the character would transition and be renamed Viktor. In The Umbrella Academy season 3, Viktor gets a haircut, tells his siblings about his new name, and starts using the pronouns he/him.
Though the show's creators couldn't have always planned for Viktor Hargreeves to come out as trans, there are unexpected hints of his transition in The Umbrella Academy season 1 and season 2. Viktor has always dressed more stereotypically masculine, just like Page in real life, but the hints go deeper than that. Viktor's stories parallel the real experiences of transgender people, leading seamlessly up to his transition in The Umbrella Academy season 3.
Viktor’s Story in Umbrella Academy Seasons 1 & 2 Was Already About Being Trans
In The Umbrella Academy season 1, Viktor quickly enters a romantic relationship with Leonard Peabody, a.k.a. Harold Jenkins. Leonard is revealed to be a murderer trying to activate Viktor's powers to use them against The Umbrella Academy, who rejected him as a child. He's able to easily manipulate Viktor, who has never felt special or loved, just by showing affection. Viktor quickly falling for Leonard becomes even more clear when looking at it through the lens of "gender envy." Leonard is a simple man, but he's just that: a man. Viktor idolizes Leonard not only because he acts kind and loving, but also because he is what Viktor subconsciously wants to be. In fact, Viktor's look in The Umbrella Academy season 3 isn't that unlike Leonard's: neutral-colored clothes, hoodies, and short hair with bangs that swoop to the side.
After the trauma of The Umbrella Academy season 1, Viktor finds himself with amnesia in 1963. He ends up on the Cooper family farm, befriending Sissy Cooper and her autistic son Harlan. This puts him at odds with Sissy's husband, Carl, especially as Viktor and Sissy begin to recognize their romantic feelings for each other. In this way, Viktor is portrayed in a more traditionally masculine position than before. The Umbrella Academy season 3 shows how much Viktor regrets leaving Sissy and Harlan. Had he stayed and completed his transition in the '60s, he would have essentially become Sissy's husband and Harlan's father. Throughout The Umbrella Academy season 3, Viktor and Harlan have a father-son relationship, even though Harlan is now decades older.
Even during flashbacks throughout the seasons, viewers can draw parallels between Viktor's childhood and that of a real-life trans man. Reginald becomes fearful of Viktor and ultimately locks Viktor up, forcing him to suppress his powers. Though this situation is about superpowers, trans people will recognize the abuse tactics of a transphobic, oppressive parent. Many parents become scared when a child presents as a different gender than what they were assigned at birth and may try to suppress this side of the child, even sending them to abusive therapies or locking them away from other family members, just like Reginald did with Viktor. It's clear that even before Page and The Umbrella Academy creators knew that Viktor Hargreeves was transgender, it was always a subtle part of the character.