The following contains light spoilers for The Umbrella Academy's third season, now streaming on Netflix
The latest season of Netflix's The Umbrella Academy is a whirlwind of chaos for the titular adopted family/former superheroes. After saving the world again, the team returns to the present-day to discover their mission into the past unwittingly changed the timeline -- resulting in an entirely different group, the Sparrow Academy, taking their place. On top of that, the world is in massive danger -- but none of them realize it, as a series of unexpected challenges and heartbreaks force the entire cast onto unique paths.
During a roundtable discussion attended by CBR ahead of the new season's debut on Netflix (where it is currently streaming), The Umbrella Academy stars David Castañeda, Justin H. Min, and Emmy Raver-Lampman spoke about their characters' unique arcs and how the season forced them to explore entirely new sides of Diego, Ben, and Allison.
Following their trip into the past in the previous season, it was important to Raver-Lampman to address Allison's experience participating in the civil rights movement and everything that she discovers about the newly altered timeline. "I think it was a huge point of conversation in the beginning of writing the new season," Raver-Lampman explained, "That we would be doing Allison a disservice if we didn't address her trauma [from] her time spent in the '60s. I think what she saw, what she witnessed, what she lived through [is all] going to have lifelong lingering side effects and a ton of trauma. Allison's in a ton of pain."
Despite her hardships, Allison remains defiant throughout The Umbrella Academy's third season. Raver-Lampman was thrilled to explore this side of the character. "I was really, really excited to get into her story this season and [to] go on this journey -- the evolution of her, the crumbling of her mental wellness and emotional well-being. I don't think Allison had a plan this season. I don't think she needs to know who's going to have to pay, who's going to have to suffer, and who's going to have to sacrifice what. At this point, she's willing to sacrifice anything. Because she just can't let the decisions that she's been making be in vain."
Meanwhile, Diego is in a far different situation -- seemingly stuck with a son named Stan that he never knew existed until his arrival early into the new season -- he is presented with a fresh batch of comedic drama. The new relationship offers surprising shades of the character for Castañeda. "I think what I was most surprised about when I was actually working with [Stan's performer Javon Walton] was that this perception of how am I as a father or how am I acting as a father had almost dissipated, because all I had to do was just kind of be there with Stan. And obviously the work had already been set up of this trauma [Diego] had with his own father. I stopped controlling this thing. I didn't really need to be an asshole to this kid because all I had to do was play it straight... It was nice to see Diego kind of care about something other than being a superhero."
One of the biggest changes of the season comes courtesy of Min's Ben. In the primary timeline of the show's first two seasons, Ben was long-dead by the beginning of the series -- living on in ghostly form until he found peace. But in the new timeline, Ben is very alive -- and a very different person. Having grown up as a member of the Sparrow Academy, Ben is a far haughtier and more aggressive character -- an image-conscious celebrity who's also quick to scheme against everyone around him. "There were definitely inspirations," Min revealed. "I cannot name names for the sake of protecting those whose persona I was inspired by, but definitely some famous people and some friends that I sort of picked and chose from to sort of imbue Ben with."
Talking about approaching the character differently than he had with the original Ben, Min brought up how "[Series Creator/Showrunner] Steve Blackman asked all of the Sparrows to be a part of this intense training regimen. Even getting to [this new Ben] physically and working with a vocal coach to get into the character vocally, just those external forces really helped me internalize how Ben was feeling inside. Ultimately, those people who are tools and assholes in real life, I've realized through this journey with Ben [that] they're the people who are hurting the most inside. It's actually kind of a heartbreaking character to play because they're acting out because they're the most insecure and hurt."
The Umbrella Academy Season 3 is now streaming on Netflix.