It’s the end of an era. After four seasons of The Umbrella Academy the Hargreeves have faced down their final apocalypse, they’ve faced their familial trauma, joined forces, and saved the world — all the worlds — one last time.
While fans are saying goodbye to the characters and show they have come to love, for the actors this is also the closing of a chapter. For five years, and four seasons, they have brought the tumultuous, super-powered siblings to life. They have shared moments on and off set that in some ways made them feel like a family as well, but with this show coming to a close it’s time for them to say goodbye to one another, too. An experience they find to be the definition of bittersweet.
“I punched them in the face and told them to leave me [mouths ‘the fuck’] the alone. Like, I never want to see any of them ever again. Everyone is an asshole,” joked Ritu Arya to PRIDE, but then took a more serious tone. “I cried. I cried so much on set, on and off the camera. I love this cast so much and it’s very bittersweet,” in part because of the friendships they had built, ones she plans to maintain. “What’s great is that although the show is ending, it doesn’t mean that you can’t hang out with the people still. So, it doesn’t have to be all doom and gloom.”
“You spend five years doing anything, it’s going to have a certain place in your head. So seeing all of us as people pass through time, see how the characters change, and as a fan of the show, seeing that come to fruition, and watching the final episode and like it’s a very overwhelming experience emotionally,” Aidan Gallagher tells PRIDE. “It really is this mix of emotions, where you’re, you’re joyous, but also it’s, it’s change, and change can be hard.”
Courtesy of Netflix
Not everyone wanted a big emotional moment of catharsis when the show wrapped, David Castañeda did his best to avoid getting too soppy on set. “I’m really bad at goodbyes. I was kind of just wanting for that whole thing to end as fast as possible,” he admits to PRIDE, explaining that in part it’s because it doesn’t really feel over to him yet. “I still haven’t said goodbye. I’m still sort of, you know, waiting for the call for some reason.”
Not everyone had the same experience of saying goodbye to the production with their castmates, for instance, Justin H. Min recalls shooting his final scene alone, and how that moment felt. “In retrospect, I am happy [I wrapped alone] because I feel like I would have been really emotional had I wrapped with everyone else. So I got to sort of have my own internal solitary moment by myself,” he tells PRIDE. “I’m just left with an immense sense of gratitude and nostalgia. I mean, I grew up on the show. It was sort of my first real big break in this industry, and I love both of these people so much, and just very thankful for the whole experience.”
For Robert Sheehan, saying goodbye to Klaus required a slightly more metaphysical moment. “I like doing my little meditation. So I said a little prayer to him in meditation and thanked him, and just had a silent word that way. It’s nice because he’s sort of both me and ‘other’ at the same time. He’s kind of like a character superposition,” he shares with PRIDE.
Courtesy of Netflix
Tom Hopper said, perhaps also in a little denial, that it felt to him like the end of the previous seasons. “We’re like, ‘Sweet, text you in a bit, see you soon, speak to you later.’ Because we’re all tight, and we hang out. The thing that I love about this group as well. We can not see each other for months a year, whatever, and it’s exactly the same as soon as we get back in the same space together. It’s been like that from day one, really,” he says. However, as he continued to reflect on how this season is different because it marks the end of Hargreeves’ story he came to a slightly more emotional note. “It’s sad to know that after this, and especially after this press and the premiere we have coming up, we may not be in the same room together again, because this show brings us together, doing this show brings us together. So without that, we may not be as a group together for maybe a very long time.”
They will always have the memories of filming, however. Looking back, there was one surprising scene that stood out to both Hopper and Sheehan, in among all the wild action, heart-aching moments of family strife and connection, and truly epic adventures. That moment: “I don’t know why this has jumped into my head, but I really enjoyed puking on Justin Min that time,” recalls Sheehan.
“That was a lot of fun to watch,” agrees Hopper.
“I’m sure, very fun to watch, I’m sure. Poor old Justin, just in the second season, he ended up covered in my puke quite a few times,” says Sheehan
“He took an absolute hammering,” laughs Hooper.
Courtesy of Netflix
OK, so perhaps not the most touching of scenes, but it underlines part of what made the show so beloved and compelling for four seasons: the joy and chemistry are at the heart of the cast. “That was great, actually, that scene, because it took days to shoot… the group scenes — which is great this season because we got a bunch of group scenes — they’re always so much fun … on and off camera, they’re just brilliant,” Hopper shares.
