Umbrella Academy: How does the series deal with Elliot Page’s gender transition?

[ATENÇÃO! CONTÉM SPOILERS DE THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY]

The 3rd season of The Umbrella Academy arrived in the catalog of Netflix this Wednesday, June 22nd, and it is the first work of Elliot Page in front of the cameras after the gender transition. The 35-year-old actor publicly revealed that he is a trans man in December 2020, and now introduces his character, Number 7, under a new name: Viktor Hargreeves.

In the new episodes, the story picks up exactly where the second left us: the Hargreeves brothers return to the present time after preventing the apocalypse in 1963, but find the hitherto non-existent Sparrow Academy in his place in Reginald’s mansion (Colm Feore).

Page talked about the construction of the gender transition from viktor in an interview with the program Late Night with Seth Meyers. To help develop the character within the script of the series, the production of Netflix had the collaboration of Thomas Page McBeeauthor and transgender journalist.

When I talked to [o showrunner Steve Blackman] for the first time about it, he seemed very excited at the prospect of incorporating my transition into the series. Then Thomas arrived and helped us. The result is something I’m proud of, and one I’m excited for people to see.

The transition would deepen themes already introduced in the plot, and make sense within the story of Number Seven. The only issue was that the scripts were already finalized, and filming would begin in less than two weeks.

In the first episode, we find the six brothers back at Reginald’s mansion, like at the end of the second season, facing their father and Sparrow Academy. There, he still introduces himself as Vanya, as there has theoretically been no passage of time since episode 10 of season two.

After the first confrontation with the Sparrow Academy, Viktor (Page) decides to radicalize the look and appears with the same short hair that Elliot adopted since his transition. After a brief hesitation, the three brothers are receptive.

Shortly after, it’s time to Allison (Emmy Raver-Lampman) finds out that he now has a brother. During a walk, she apologizes to viktor for never realizing it, and he replies, “You couldn’t have known, because I didn’t entirely know.”

More about Umbrella Academy

Umbrella Academy follows a somewhat dysfunctional family of superheroes, created by the tycoon Sir Richard Haargreves. After the mysterious death of their father, responsible for adopting children who were born with peculiar powers, the brothers need to unite again after years apart.

The 10 episodes of the 3rd season of The Umbrella Academy are available at Netflix.