8 big questions The Umbrella Academy season 2 needs to answer
Note: contains spoilers for The Umbrella Academy season one.
If you're reading this article, chances are you've already raced through The Umbrella Academy, Netflix's brand-new superhero show based on Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá's comic-book series of the same name – and while there's a lot we now know about the characters and the universe in which they live, there's an awful lot we don't know.
Here are eight of the most pressing issues that the second series could really do with clearing up.
1. What does the future hold for Vanya?
Vanya's (Ellen Page) life hasn't exactly been a barrel of laughs but the end of The Umbrella Academy season one is probably her lowest moment to date. She totally loses control of her powers, almost killing her sister Allison (Emmy Raver-Lampman), successfully killing both Leonard Peabody/Harold Jenkins (John Magaro) and Pogo (Adam Godley), not to mention attempting to kill the rest of her siblings before killing everyone on Earth, plus the Earth itself. She's also been shot by Allison, which can't have been particularly great either.
So… What now?
The seven have established that Vanya will always be the cause of the apocalypse, unless they can fix her, so we now know that they're committed to helping their sister rather than locking her in a sealed room.
But will she be able to successfully wield her powers without her capabilities completely consuming her? Can Vanya's dark side be stopped?
Plus, can she forgive Allison and the rest of her siblings for shutting her out of their lives?
It's all still to play for.
2. Has Allison lost her powers for good?
There’s a moment towards the end of The Umbrella Academy when it looks like Allison might die. Vanya slashes her sister across the throat and Number Three collapses, covered in her own blood as Vanya screams, horrified by her uncharacteristic actions.
Fortunately Allison survives and her wound is stitched up – and it doesn’t take long before she is back on her feet, although she is clearly still very weak following her sister’s attack. Unfortunately, she can’t speak, which means that Allison is unable to use her powers.
We already know that the Netflix series is deviating from the comics, which means there’s every chance that her powers might not return and she will have to adapt to life without them, or her abilities could be severely weakened.
There’s even the extreme possibility that Allison might never speak again, although that seems highly unlikely.
3. How do Klaus's powers actually work?
Number Four (Robert Sheehan) consistently takes solace in drugs and alcohol, despite the fact that substances only worsen his anxieties and make him vulnerable. But towards the end of the series following a few sober days, Klaus's ability to conjure the dead takes on a whole new dimension when his deceased brother Ben/Number Six (Justin H Min) makes physical contact with him by slapping some pills out of his mouth to stop Klaus sinking into another drug-fuelled bout of lethargy.
When Klaus asks Ben how he managed to do it, Ben says that it wasn't him but Klaus.
Then there's the moment when Vanya is demolishing the house with her powers and Ben saves Diego from being crushed by falling debris, as well as the final battle when Klaus's fists light up and he summons Ben, who uses those giant monster tentacles to defeat the masked gunmen.
Will Klaus now commit to being sober so he can explore his powers fully? Is he able to summon the dead to do his bidding for him, or is it just Ben on account of the brotherly bond that lies between them?
It's an exciting development that promises further twists and turns in the tale.
4. Are the Hargreeves children aware of Sir Reginald’s true identity?
Unless you've read the comics, it might come as a surprise to you that Sir Reginald Hargreeves (Colm Feore) is an alien. His outsider status is never once mentioned in the series, but it's certainly hinted at in the finale, which goes some way to explaining why he is so emotionally cold and distant towards his adopted children.
Sir Reginald's style of parenting has undoubtedly had a severely negative impact on the seven – Diego/Number Two (David Castañeda) is very rarely not seething with rage, Klaus has substance-abuse issues and Ben/Number Six is dead, to name just a handful of their problems – but maybe they themselves don't know who their adoptive father really is?
And if that is the case, could it help them to heal, or at least understand why he behaved in the way that he did?
5. Will we ever find out what Sir Reginald wanted to say to Klaus?
In episode seven, Klaus briefly visits the underworld after he gets thrown to the ground and smacks his head. It's during that moment that he comes face to face with his father, who is also dead.
They talk about a number of things, including Klaus's power, Sir Reginald's reason for sending Luther to the moon and the fact that he killed himself in order to get the gang back together.
Following that revelation, Sir Reginald then goes on to say that he has something gravely important to say, but Klaus wakes up from his fever-dream before his father has a chance to finish his sentence.
Was he going to warn him about Vanya's powers and how to stop her? Or was it something else entirely?
If so, we hope that season two clears up that particular mystery.
6. Will Allison and Luther finally become an item?
Even after being separated for several years, time has not dulled the feelings between Number One (Tom Hopper) and Number Three, the pair still very much in love, something which they say in the first series without actually saying it – the pair enjoy a romantic dance together in the park, as well as that heartfelt moment in the phone box.
Will the duo finally throw caution to the wind and say those three little words to one another, or will they keep dancing around the subject? Of course, there's also the possibility that they will actively decide not to act on their feelings at all, which promises to be utterly heartbreaking.
We'd prepare yourselves just in case.
7. Have we seen the last of the The Time Bureau?
Number Five might have escaped The Handler (Kate Walsh), as well as Hazel (Cameron Britton ) and Cha-Cha (Mary J Blige) – or so we think (this is a superhero show with time travel after all), but The Time Bureau still exists, even after Number Five destroyed all the briefcases and wreaked havoc at the official headquarters – so there's every chance further challenges await the Hargreeves kids, especially Number Five (Aidan Gallagher).
If the bureau still exists, they will want revenge and to restore any altercations to the timeline, and it ain't going to be pretty.
8. Will we meet others with superpowers?
Sir Reginald managed to get his hands on just seven of the 43 babies born on the same day to women who hadn't been pregnant, which means that there are 36 other people out there with extraordinary capabilities.
Could the series do what Stranger Things did when it introduced Eleven's long-lost "sister" Kali/Eight, bringing a whole new raft of remarkable characters to The Umbrella Academy, and what might those powers be?
We wait with bated breath.
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