The Umbrella Academy season 4: Netflix release date, trailer, confirmed cast, plot synopsis, and more
The Umbrella Academy season 4: key information
- Will be the popular series' final season
- Release date announced in February
- First trailer revealed in May
- Main cast all set to return
- New cast additions confirmed
- Story synopsis and episode titles revealed
- Will answer "a lot" of fans' questions
- Shorter season comprising six episodes only
The Umbrella Academy season 4 is set to close the curtains (or should that be umbrella?) on the hit series' run on Netflix. Before it dances off into the sunset and brings the Hargreeves family's apocalyptic adventures to a (potentially) happy end, though, you'll want to catch up on everything we know ahead of its return.
In this guide, we've rounded up the latest intel on The Umbrella Academy's final season. Indeed, you'll learn more about its release date, confirmed cast, plot specifics, first trailer, and why it's ending after four seasons.
Major spoilers follow for The Umbrella Academy season 3 (and its predecessors) on the world's best streaming service. Potential spoilers are also incoming for The Umbrella Academy season 4, so make sure you've seen every episode before you proceed.
The Umbrella Academy season 4 release date
In February, Netflix confirmed The Umbrella Academy season 4 would mark the show's apocalyptic end on Thursday, August 8. Before then, Netflix had only revealed that The Umbrella Academy 4 would arrive sometime in 2024.
Unlike the three chapters preceding it, all of whom contain 10 episodes, the show's fourth season will only have six; a development that certainly disappointmed fans. Still, considering Netflix has a penchant for cancelling shows before their time is over, at least we're getting one more season.
The Umbrella Academy season 4 trailer
The Umbrella Academy season 4's first trailer was released in late May, and it teased one final world-saving mission and lots more Ben in the Netflix show's final installment. Fans will be pleased to know that there'll be plenty of familial dysfunction, dance numbers, melodrama, comedy, and action-packed sequences to enjoy in season 4, too.
Before the first teaser's debut, we'd only been treated to a brief clip as part of February's Next on Netflix 2024 trailer. In it, we got a quick look at an intoxicating Hargreeves family reunion, which shows the siblings reuniting for a round of alcoholic shots. It's unclear when they'll all get together again (more on this in our plot section). Regardless, roll on August, we say.
The Umbrella Academy season 4 cast: confirmed and rumored
Major spoilers follow for The Umbrella Academy season 3.
Here's The Umbrella Academy season 4's confirmed cast so far:
Elliot Page as Viktor Hargreeves
Tom Hopper as Luther Hargreeves
David Castañeda as Diego Hargreeves
Emmy Raver-Lampman as Alison Hargreeves
Robert Sheehan as Klaus Hargreeves
Aidan Gallagher as Number Five
Justin H. Min as Ben Hargreeves
Ritu Arya as Lila Pitts
Colm Feore as Sir Reginald Hargreeves
Nick Offerman as Gene Thibedeau
Megan Mullally as Jean Thibedeau
David Cross as Sy Grossman
Apart from the final three actors, the rest of The Umbrella Academy season 4's cast are back as their characters from one of the best Netflix shows' first three outings.
Newcomer wise, Nick Offerman (The Last of Us, Parks and Recreation) will play Doctor Gene Thibedeau, while Megan Mullally (Will & Grace, Parks and Recreation) is portraying Gene's fellow scientist (and wife) – that being the aptly named Doctor Jean Thibedeau. David Cross (Arrested Development) will also feature as Sy Grossman. This trio don't appear in the source material, so we're unsure what roles they'll play in the story.
However, according to Netflix Tudum, the Thibedeaus are a pair of "mild-mannered Midwestern community college professors". We suspect their existence will be a by-product of the never-ending time-traveling and/or multiversal shenanigans that the Hargreeves clan are a part of. Meanwhile, Grossman is "an upstanding but shy business owner and family man" who is "desperate to reconnect with his estranged (and unnamed) daughter [and] he will stop at nothing to get her back."
The Umbrella Academy season 4's new cast reveals had us worried upon their unveiling, especially with the show continuing to diverge from the narrative in the graphic novels. If Blackman and company have valid reasons for their inclusion, though, we'll try not to complain.
Interestingly, there's been no word if the sole surviving member of The Sparrow Academy – Sloane Hargreeves (Genesis Rodriguez), who is also Luther's wife – will return for season 4. We'll dig into this mystery more in our plot section.
The Umbrella Academy season 4 story synopsis and speculation
Full spoilers follow for The Umbrella Academy seasons 1 to 3. Potential season 4 spoilers are also discussed.
Here's The Umbrella Academy season 4's story brief: "The Hargreeves siblings have scattered after the climactic showdown at the Hotel Oblivion led to a complete reset of their timeline. Stripped of their powers, each is left to fend for themselves and find a new normal – with wildly varying degrees of success.
"Yet, the trappings of their uncanny new world prove too hard to ignore for very long. Their father Reginald, alive and well, has stepped out of the shadows and into the public eye, overseeing a powerful and nefarious business empire. A mysterious association known as The Keepers holds clandestine meetings believing the reality they’re living in is a lie and a great reckoning is coming. As these strange new forces conspire around them, the Umbrella Academy must come together one last time – and risk upsetting the shaky peace they’ve all endured so much to secure – to finally set things right."
Prior to that plot reveal, the show's cast teased what to from the final season. Speaking in a pre-recorded video released during Netflix Geeked Week 2023, they said season 4 will "hit the ground running" in the hit Netflix show's "bittersweet" final entry.
Two months before The Umbrella Academy season 4's debut, its six episode titles were also revealed. The first suggests all might not be well among the Hargreeves siblings after they lost their powers in the season 3 finale. Meanwhile, the second and third entries tease that we'll learn more about the Thibedeaus and Ben (you know, the sibling with an eldritch-style squid monster living beneath his skin) in season 4, too. What the others tell us about this entry's plot, though, is anyone's guess.
But back to the Hargreeves siblings being deprive of their powers. In the season 3 finale, Alison reset the universe using the Hotel Oblivion, which was a cover for Sir Reginald Hargreeves' (yep, the group's surrogate dad) attempt to resurrect his wife. This caused the group to lose their abilities, brought Luther back from the dead (Reginald killed him in season 3 episode 9), and gave Five his right arm back (he lost it in the fight with the hotel's Guardians in the same episode).
With the siblings believing they're finally free of their father and years of being forced to be superheroes, they collectively – though not without pushback from some members – decide to go their separate ways. However, it's clear this honeymoon period won't last. As the first episode title suggests, the siblings will soon realize being normal isn't all it's cracked up to be.
When they learn Reginald and his revived wife Abigail are now lording it over this new-look universe – we see the pair looking down on everything they apparently own before season 3's end credits rolled – and that another apocalypse is on the horizon, they'll presumably want to get their abilities back and try and save the day (properly, this time!) again. Oh, and they'll need Reginald – of all people – to help them reacquire said superpowers, which this Netflix Tudum article confirms.
The other major problem – outside of losing their powers and finding out their emotionally cold, dangerous father is alive – facing the siblings will be preventing said world-ending event. This increasingly tiresome storytelling device has been used in the three previous installments, and another one will form the basis for The Umbrella Academy's fourth season (per Total Film/GamesRadar).
As for the role Reginald will play, showrunner Steve Blackman offered some insight during a Netflix Tudum interview post-season 3, saying: "To the viewer, I think he is the villain. In every timeline, Reggie seems to have the ability to play puppet master to these kids. If you follow the timeline of three seasons, he started his plan 100 years ago. He’s been waiting a very, very long time to bring his wife back from the dead.
"Reggie thinks he gave them a gift. He took away their power. He took away the thing they most complained about. Now, that may not be true, but if you jump into Reggie’s mind for a second, I think he says, 'You guys got what you want. You don’t have to be burdened by this power anymore. You’re all normal again. You’re all just like everyone else. Have a good life', which sets up a wonderful season 4."
The Hargreeves family have more pressing problems to deal with than their daddy issues and another impending apocalypse. Blackman also told Tudum that "there are new enemies who want to see them wiped out of existence", so it'll be fascinating to see how they deal with these threats without their powers.
New foes notwithstanding, Ben Hargreeves is set to play an integral role in season 4. An original Umbrella Academy member, who died (again) in season 2, he was brought back as a Sparrow Academy member who also survived season 3's events alongside Sloane (time-travel is complicated...). Now, it appears that the Sparrow Academy version of Ben is officially part of the family again – or is he? It's possible that there might be two versions of Ben in season 4: the aforementioned Sparrow one and, potentially, another who was created as part of Allison's timeline reset.
So, what's the deal here? Blackman wouldn't say, but did tease to Tudum: "As every good fan knows, no moment in the show exists in isolation. Everything we see has meaning. And this moment is no exception. Ben has a reason to be there".
There are plenty more subplots to be resolved as well. The breakdown in Allison and Viktor's relationship, Klaus facing up to the fact he's now a mortal being, Five's likely struggle at failing to stop another universe-ending event, Lila and Diego heading off to start their new family (Lila revealed she was pregnant in season 3), and confirmation about whether Sloane is alive or not in this new reality need to be addressed. Oh, and let's no forget how the Thibedeaus factor into this story, as evidenced by their debut in season 4's very first scene (see the X/Twitter post below for confirmation on that).
And that's all before we get to the season 4 finale's title, aka 'End of the Beginning'. We're not sure what this is hinting at, but it could be the Hargreeves children are successful in stopping whatever cataclysmic event threatened the new timeline, reverting the universe back to its original form, and starting their lives over properly for the first time.
Alternatively, it could hint that they're trapped in a permanent time loop, where they'll be forever doomed to live the same events over and over again. The 'beginning' part of the title suggests this could be the case, with the siblings saving the day in season 4 again before being sent back to season 1's opening entry. If that's the price they must pay to keep the universe safe, it might be one worth sacrificing their lives and happiness for.
No matter how the series ends, Blackman has claimed we'll be "pleased" to get "a lot" of answers to our most pressing questions in The Umbrella Academy season 4 (via Total Film/GamesRadar). Let's hope we're not left disappointed when the final credits roll.
The Umbrella Academy season 4: is it really the final entry?
Unfortunately, yes. Blackman, who was recently accused of toxic behaviour throughout his showrunning tenure (per Rolling Stone), previously confirmed The Umbrella Academy season 4 will be the show's last entry. In true Brellies fashion, then, we'll need to prepare for a funeral-like event to say goodbye to the Hargreeves later this year.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter in June 2022, Blackman revealed he'd always had a four-season series in mind, so we shouldn't be surprised that it'll end soon. Still, it's gutting that we'll never see another epic Hargreeves dance-off once the fourth season is released. We'll be making the most of The Umbrella Academy season 4 when it's eventually released.
For more Netflix TV-based coverage, check out our guides on Arcane season 2, Stranger Things season 5, Wednesday season 2, and Cobra Kai season 6.
