Umbrella Academy season 2 ending: How it sets up season 3

31 July 2020, 22:55

The opening scene of The Umbrella Academy season 2

Here's your explainer on what that final scene means for the future of The Umbrella Academy and the Hargreeves siblings.

Can we talk about The Umbrella Academy season 2 ending yet? Because OMFG.

The Umbrella Academy season 2 sees our favourite bunch of dysfunctional siblings back at it again, attempting to stop yet another apocalypse (that they've caused). Only this time, they're in the 1960s.

There's some absolutely huge reveals, game-changing moments and a cliffhanger reveal ending that will no doubt change the future of the show. But with all that time travel and new timeline business, what does it all mean?

If you haven't watched all 10 episodes yet... Bookmark this page, close the tab, and hurry up and finish it!

If you have already managed to finish watching all 10 episodes in one sitting, first of all, congrats to you! And second of all, we bet you've got a LOT of questions about that huge bomshell of an ending... Here's your explainer.

WARNING! Spoilers ahead for The Umbrella Academy season 2 ending...

Umbrella Academy season 2 ending: How it sets up season 3. Picture: Netflix

Who are the Sparrow Academy?

In the final episode of season 2, the Hargreeves siblings manage to escape the '60s and travel forward in time to 2019. There's no apocalypse and the Academy is still standing but there's something drastically different.

Instead of Five, there's a painting of Ben on the wall and Reginald Hargreeves is still alive. Even more shocking... there's a completely different set of Hargreeves siblings living and training at the Academy in their place: the Sparrow Academy. The Sparrow Academy consist of a whole new group of teens, a floating box... and Emo Ben.

Basically, the new timeline reveals that the Umbrella Academy never even existed.

Is Ben alive?

In this timeline, Ben appears to be alive. Kind of. It's not the ghost Umbrella Ben that we know and love, it's a new Ben, a Ben who isn't part of the Umbrella Academy, and a Ben who never died on that fateful mission with his siblings.

The important question, however, is: Does Sparrow Ben have the same powers as Umbrella Ben? Because if yes... everyone is in trouble.

Does Harlan still have powers?

Another important part of the ending involves Sissy's son Harlan. When Vanya saved him from drowning, she transferred some of her powers into him, which resulted in him being unable to control them. In the final episode, she manages to remove them, but a tiny shred of them still remain.

As Sissy and Harlan drive away, we see that Harlan still has powers and is able to make his toy bird (which looks a lot like a sparrow) hover and spin in mid air.

Harlan's ending might have a huge impact on the future of the show. Picture: Netflix

What does Umbrella Academy season 2's ending mean for season 3?

The focus of season 3 will no doubt be all about the Sparrow Academy. Who are they? What are their powers? And why did Sir Reginald pick them? The Umbrella Academy will also have to figure out what they did to alter the timeline.

Was it because they spoke to Sir Reginald in the '60s? Did that cause him to actively avoid adopting and creating the Umbrella Academy as we know it, knowing their involvement results in his death, Ben's death and an apocalypse?

The introduction of the Sparrow Academy also opens up the idea that the rest of the babies born on October 1st 1989 could still pop up at some point. We already met Lila, who was born on the same day as the Hargreeves siblings, and now we're going to learn more about the Sparrows.

There's also looming questions about Ben. Is that actually Ben from a different timeline or is Justin H. Min playing a new character, who isn't even called Ben?

Speaking to Inverse, show-runner Steve Blackman teased: "I will only say this given the fact that some of this is in the graphic novel but they are new people. They're not our characters. They are different people, and that's all I can really say."