Exclusive: "The Umbrella Academy" Star Robert Sheenen On What's in Store for Klaus in Season 3
*Major spoilers for season 2 of The Umbrella Academy below!*
Since season one, The Umbrella Academy's Klaus has become an instant fan favorite. The love for him is elevated in the show's second season, thanks to the incredible performance put on by Irish actor Robert Sheenen. The always eclectic Klaus, now stuck in the 1960s after a botched time travel experience, creates his own cult. He also tries everything he can to stop the love of his life, who hasn't met him yet in this timeline, from joining the Army right before the Vietnam War.
In the middle of all of that craziness, Robert also puts on another great performance thanks to Ben's possession over Klaus' body. Through iconic song lyric moments and other heartbreaking scenes, Klaus not only makes a huge impact on the show's future, but also continues to bring new fans over to the series.
Seventeen got the chance to talk to Robert Sheenen on Klaus' losses, finding the balance of fun and sadness, and what he hopes to see in The Umbrella Academy season three.
17: We kick off season two with Klaus starting his own cult. How was it bringing that aspect of 60s life to the small screen?
Robert Sheenen: The whole cult idea was percolating long before the script had manifested. It was an idea that me and Steve [Blackman] have been kicking around a fair bit. But to see it manifested in the way it did was great — especially all the cold open stuff and finding out the origin of the cult.
We thought, 'Let's have fun with it, but let's not forget the reasons for it.' It's supposed to be a kind of a thorn in Klaus' arse a little bit. In that tragedy, you can have great craic and comedy. It's lovely to play Klaus struggling under all this worship.
17: As part of the cult, we saw Klaus reference some iconic songs as a way to share wisdom with them. Did you have a personal favorite?
RS: The Backstreet Boys one when I'm Ben is a real corker. It goes from that scene into this murderous fight that's going on at Allison's with poppy preppy Backstreet Boys playing in the background. I also enjoyed the disco diva Gloria Gaynor moment. [I Will Survive] came around in like '78 and she said, "I know I'll stay alive." That one is a little bit more suitable for something philosophical. You could have written it as a cheesy Hallmark card.
17: Klaus decides to risk a lot in order to prevent Dave from enlisting in the army. How was it playing him at his most vulnerable?
RS: He's highly reckless on that front. I don't think anything about the timeline makes any sense to Klaus, especially this idea that Five was always trying to drill down their necks. "Look, you can't change timeline, everything affects everything else." He's like, "Yeah, whatever." It's an incredibly Buddhist thing to try to tell these rarefied Americans. Everybody lives these sort of cellular lives and certainly Klaus is deluded into thinking that nobody's lives really affect each other's that much. He's happy to live in that cognitive distance. I think he's selfish with love. He just wants to look out for his own interests. That's where he is as a human being.
17: In the end, it only encouraged Dave to enlist earlier. Do you think that will affect him in season three?
RS: It would massively affect me and the audience if we didn't see that in series three. It would be terrible if it suddenly was gone. Those things don't just go away. Each season is only about eight days long. Since the start of this whole big mad dog and pony show, we've had a week from the start at dad's funeral, then there's three years of the cult, and then a week in season two. It's madness. There probably is some terrible pain and anguish to be doled out there.
Not for nothing, I also think the cult had to come to an end. Klaus started to hear Ben's point. There's too many people who have given up their lives now for your song lyric gibberish and you have to release them back into the wild. He goes on like he's a narcissist, but there's still empathy there. Klaus is not a sociopath. He almost probably feels too much. Anyone who feels that way naturally slams down the shutters to protect themselves.
17: He also lost Ben as well. With all this loss, how do you think we'll find Klaus?
RS: He will probably have some behavior that looks as though he's trying to make the world as chaotic a place as how he feels inside. Because that's what children do and Klaus is still a child on some level. When it comes down to cutting the mustard, as they say over here in Ireland, I think he will probably see a few some serious wobblers and then ultimately realize this.
I would highly recommend anyone reading this to try out meditation, because it teaches you on a profoundly deep level that you're all right. Don't worry about how things will angulate. You don't have to grade everything or think about whether the impact is negative or positive, because you don't have to make that call. When you start to see the world that way, it makes it a lot easier. Maybe everything, in an unconscious way, will compel Klaus to take a step further towards that kind of approach.
17: A highlight of this season was getting to see the Ben possession scenes. How was it as an actor getting to play another character?
RS: I was endlessly bothering Justin. I was scared. I wanted people to feel convinced and not have anything in there that would go against persuasion. I'm quite pleased with it. Camera trickery is a great thing to enhance the performance and deliver that message into the minds of the viewers. But it was equal part scary and fun. It was also a good lesson for me. I'll be honest, I loved my acting when I was Ben. I just enjoyed how still I was. Instinctually, I want to give it all and be expressive with my body. But when you're watching that it can be very busy and you don't know where to look. I just enjoyed my bit for that reason as I was watching it back.
17: Although the scripts haven't been written yet, what are you biggest hopes if the show gets renewed?
RS: I hope it's more about facing your own personal apocalypse. I'm chickensh*t to live it out in real life, so I want Klaus to go through it for me. I want him to have to go through the terrible agony of realizing that he doesn't really know who he is.
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