‘Stepping into ourselves’: Transitioning on- and off-screen for The Umbrella Academy’s Elliot Page

LOS ANGELES – The fourth season of The Umbrella Academy, a series about dysfunctional superhero siblings who travel through time and alter reality, will be its last.

And since it debuted as a breakout hit on Netflix in 2019, the cast members who play the super-powered Hargreeves family – Elliot Page, Tom Hopper, David Castaneda, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Robert Sheehan, Aidan Gallagher and Justin H. Min – have come to feel like family off-screen as well.

Based on the award-winning comic book series of the same name written by My Chemical Romance rocker Gerard Way, the dramedy follows the seven adopted children of billionaire Reginald Hargreeves (Colm Feore), who turned them into a superhero team, the Umbrella Academy, to prevent an apocalypse.

At the recent Los Angeles premiere of Season 4, which is streaming on Netflix, Page – the 37-year-old Canadian performer who plays sibling Viktor Hargreeves – expresses gratitude for how viewers have embraced these characters.

“The main feeling I have being here tonight is just how lucky it is to have had people respond the way they did.

“And I hope they continue to over the years if they rewatch it,” says Page, who was formerly known as Ellen Page, and received a Best Actress Oscar nomination for the coming-of-age drama Juno (2007).

In 2020, Page came out publicly as a trans man – the first regular cast member of an American TV show to transition midway through a series.

And the transition was written into Season 3 of the show, which saw the character, originally a young woman named Vanya, being renamed Viktor.

“I’m proud of Viktor’s transition and how that was handled,” says Page, who also appeared in superhero films X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) and X-Men: Days Of Future Past (2014) as well as the sci-fi blockbuster Inception (2010).

But the character has also “changed so much emotionally, which I love”, Page adds.

Viktor grew up thinking he was the only sibling without superpowers, but later learns he is the most powerful of them all, with the ability to harness sound waves and the weather into powerful and destructive forces.

“When we first found Viktor at the beginning of this whole show, he was so uncomfortable and folded in on himself, he couldn’t connect with other people.

“He’s been through a lot, and through all that, he’s really found himself,” says Page, who reveals that this season will see Viktor confronting his father.

But overall, the character is doing well in this final instalment, which sees the Umbrella Academy come together again after the showdown at the end of Season 3, when they were scattered to the winds and forced to fend for themselves.

“He’s, like, ‘I’m kind of happy to leave that power thing behind – that was a lot of drama with my family.’

“He’s definitely not perfect – he’s still got stuff to work on – but he’s really stepped into himself, and it was an absolute joy to go on that journey with this character,” Page says.

The journey paralleled the actor’s own in some ways.

“For me, feeling seen as a trans person has meant allowing myself to fully see myself, which I was afraid to do for a long time.

“And feeling seen by your friends and family lets us feel like we can step into who we truly are, and hopefully get to thrive in this world as ourselves.”

Reuniting to make and promote the show’s final season has been bittersweet for the cast.

Says Min, who plays Ben Hargreeves, the brother who can summon tentacles from his body: “We’re grateful we got to close out the season the way we did, and that we knew it was going to be the last season going in.

“But this has really become my family,” adds the 34-year-old Korean-American actor, who starred in the romantic comedy film Shortcomings (2023) and had a supporting role in the Emmy-winning comedy-drama series Beef (2023).

“We’ve been with this cast and crew for over six years now, so it’s hard to say goodbye.”

Page adds: “We’ve been all back together doing press and reflecting on everything and the journey it’s been. And, of course, it feels sad. But it’s been fantastic to have four seasons and I’m just thrilled to see what everybody does next.”