Will Grace introduce a third super-powered academy in The Umbrella Academy season 3? When The Umbrella Academy begins, the titular team are comprised of six siblings (plus one deceased) adopted in 1989 by the extra-terrestrial known as Sir Reginald Hargreeves. As the kids grow into adulthood, they become fractured and jaded, leaving behind their crime-fighting days and turning on their neglectful father. But somewhere out there in the world are 36 other kids that Reginald either passed on or couldn't buy, meaning the composition of the Umbrella Academy could've been very different.
And so it proves at the end of The Umbrella Academy season 2. In order to avert the apocalypse, the Hargreeves siblings travel from 2019 back to the 1960s. They're successful, and return home by stealing a time-breaking suitcase from a defeated Commission agent. However, their trip to the past wasn't entirely smooth. When the Umbrella Academy return to 2019, they're buoyed to find Earth still in one piece, but shocked at how drastically the trip altered history. Because the Hargreeves siblings approached Sir Reginald in the past, the Monocle has picked a new set of kids to adopt (with the exception of Ben, who he didn't meet) and named them the Sparrow Academy.
The Umbrella Academy season 3 promises to pit one Academy against the other, but a second important change to the timeline was also made. As the Academy's resident mamma's boy, Diego was shocked to find the real Grace dating Reginald in 1963. In their future, the Hargreeves siblings were raised by an android based on this very woman, and Diego is determined to pull her away from his no-good alien dad. Did Diego trigger a series of events whereby Grace ultimately builds her own Academy separate from both the Umbrella and Sparrow kids?
The Sparrow Academy's Origin Is Different In The Show
Netflix's The Umbrella Academy hasn't completely revealed how the Sparrow Academy came to replace the Umbrella Academy in season 2's alternate version of 2019. It's safe to assume that as a result of meeting the Hargreeves gang in the 1960s and being distinctly unimpressed by what he saw, Reginald decided to pick a different selection of superheroes for his crime-fighting team. However, it's not clear how Harlan factors into the Sparrow Academy, or why Reginald opted for the new name. Aside from Ben, the Sparrow Academy consists of Marcus, Fei, Alphonso, Sloane, Jayme, and a green cube called Christopher.
A very different version of the Sparrow Academy appears in the original comic books by Gerard Way and Gabriel Ba. Without any jumbled timelines or interfering with the past, a group called The Sparrows appear in Hotel Oblivion to rescue the Umbrella Academy from a team of major villains. While Ben Hargreeves isn't a member of the comic incarnation, the Sparrows do include a floating cube, but as with the TV show, the full story of their creation is yet to be told. While many mysteries remain, the existence of the Sparrows is somehow linked to the Umbrella Academy's robotic mom, who first introduces them to Vanya through a mysterious "friend" called Deever. Mom refers to the Sparrows as "family," which heavily suggests she had a hand in putting the team together and raising them in secret.
There are some obvious differences between the Sparrows and the Sparrow Academy, with time travel a factor in creating the latter, and the TV team living with Reginald Hargreeves in the main mansion. But just as mom is involved with The Sparrows in the comic books, Grace might've created a different superhero team in the live-action Netflix series.
Mom Left Hargreeves After JFK's Assassination
The key to this mystery is Diego Hargreeves, and his impulsive actions around Grace in The Umbrella Academy season 2. The story behind the Academy's mother remains unknown - how does Reginald's girlfriend in 1963 become the kids' mechanical carer in the 1990s and beyond? But however events played out originally, Diego has altered the timeline by approaching Grace's past self and imploring her to be wary of the elusive Sir Reginald Hargreeves. Prompted by Diego's warning, Grace goes snooping through her partner's files and discovers unusual documents pertaining to the JFK assassination. She confronts him, and Reginald promises to tell Grace the truth eventually (which is presumably what happened in the original timeline), but she chooses a different path and leaves Hargreeves behind.
Since The Umbrella Academy season 2 dedicates an entire sub-plot to Diego and Grace, her break-up with Reginald must have a meaningful impact upon the alternate future of season 3, with Diego's interference potentially why the Monocle picks a different group of kids from the original 43. Grace's path also could've shifted, since it's unlikely that such an inquisitive character would simply forget the things she's seen and drop her suspicions about Reginald Hargreeves.
Mom Could've Started Her Own Academy To Counter Hargreeves
When Mom introduces Vanya to the Sparrows in the Umbrella Academy comic books, she ominously tells the White Violin that "Hargreeves isn't God." The line is intended to reassure an injured Vanya that recovery is possible, but might also offer some insight into Mom's motivation for creating the Sparrows. Despite being an android, the Hargreeves' mother is a sentient being, and could've picked another group of heroes from the 36 Reginald left behind - doing what her creator did, but better. The Umbrella Academy's Grace perhaps harbored similar misgivings after breaking up with Reginald in the Netflix series. With her scientific mind, it's logical that Grace would continue to pry into Reginald's affairs following the events of The Umbrella Academy season 2, secretly investigating his aims, origins and intentions.
Through her snooping, an older Grace might've followed Reginald during his worldwide adoption spree in 1989, picking up the babies he rejected and raising them into her own superhero team. This secret group would be trained to counter her ex's Sparrow Academy if the occasion ever arose, and might also include some very familiar faces. It's not yet clear what became of the original Umbrella kids in 2019's alternate future, as only Ben was taken in by Hargreeves, but having been rejected by Reginald, did Diego and the others end up in Grace's care instead? This would create a fascinating thematic parallel between The Umbrella Academy's two versions of Grace. In the original timeline, Grace the robot was programmed to look after the Hargreeves siblings, but even when history changed and Grace left Reginald, she still became a mother figure to the same children, this time as a human.
With Grace's third team in The Umbrella Academy season 3, the Hargreeves siblings could glimpse what their lives might've been with a parent who cares, rather than an emotionless alien who sees them only as weapons. Unfortunately, Grace's idealistic version of the Umbrella Academy also creates a moral conflict for the Hargreeves siblings. If Five and the gang fix the timeline to wipe the Sparrow Academy out of existence, they'll be denying their alternate selves a happy upbringing with Grace, replacing it with their own rough childhood under the cold thumb of Sir Reginald.