The Umbrella Academy

The Umbrella Academy premiered on Netflix to immediate critical acclaim and massive ratings, swiftly becoming one of the streaming service’s most popular shows not named Stranger Things. Based on the comic book series by My Chemical Romance frontman Gerard Way and illustrator Gabriel Bá, The Umbrella Academy has the kind of sprawling, confusing cast you would expect from a show involving time travel, superpowers, robots, and aliens. 

A fourth and final season is in the works at Netflix and we are here to break down the Umbrella Academy cast for you and make things simple. First off, we’ll start with the titular Umbrella Academy and the family that starts it all off.

The Hargreeves Family Are The Stars Of The Umbrella Academy Cast

In the world of Umbrella Academy, everything is kicked off by an extraordinary event: 43 women give birth at the same moment in 1989, whether or not they were pregnant before then or not. Seven of the resulting children are adopted by Sir Reginald Hargreeves, a mysterious billionaire who raises them to be a superhero team. However, in doing so, he messes them up pretty badly, emotionally speaking.

Tom Hopper as Luther Hargreeves / Spaceboy / Umbrella Number One

Luther Hargreeves is the leader of the Umbrella Academy team, possessing superstrength and fierce loyalty to his father. Luther eventually becomes an astronaut and after a serious accident in space, is injected with an experimental serum that turns him into a half-gorilla, half-human.

For the first two seasons of the show, Luther is secretly in love with his adoptive sister Allison, who returns his feelings.

David Castañeda as Diego Hargreeves / The Kraken / Umbrella Number Two

Diego Hargreeves is the malcontent of the Umbrella Academy, with immense hand-to-hand combat skills and a form of telekinesis that allows him to guide his favored weapon of thrown knives.

After leaving the Umbrella Academy, Diego fights crime on his own, becoming a ruthless street vigilante.

Emmy Raver-Lampman as Allison Hargreeves / The Rumor / Umbrella Number Three

Allison Hargreeves has a more conceptual power: by uttering the phrase “I heard a rumor,” she can control the minds of others. Once the Umbrella Academy becomes defunct, Allison becomes a famous actress, which can be assumed to be partly due to her powers.

Over time, Allison becomes less dependent on her phrase and can control others simply on willpower alone.

Robert Sheehan as Klaus Hargreeves / The Séance / Umbrella Number Four

Klaus Hargreeves is (at least on the face of it) the most damaged of the Umbrella Academy cast, with his powers allowing him to speak to the dead and temporarily bring them back to life at the cost of massive emotional trauma.

When the show begins, Klaus is heavily dependent on drugs and alcohol, but still possesses a flamboyant charisma that allows him to lead a cult.

Aidan Gallagher as Five Hargreeves / The Boy / Umbrella Number Five

Unlike the other members of the Umbrella Academy cast, this member of the family has no given name. At least, while Five once had a first name, both he and his siblings have forgotten it through disuse, which is pretty chilling.

Five has the power to transport through space and time, which eventually results in him being stuck in a post-apocalyptic future for decades before returning back to his own 13-year-old body, despite having the mind and experience of a far older man.

Justin H. Min as Ben Hargreeves / The Horror / Umbrella Number Six 

In many ways, Ben Hargreeves is the most tragic member of the Umbrella Academy cast. As a child, he had the ability to produce horrible tentacled monsters from his own body, which is awful enough, but it does not end there for Ben.

In a so-far unspecified incident during an Umbrella Academy mission, Ben died. However, he still sticks around his family in ghost form and Klaus is the only one who can communicate with him or is aware that he still exists in some form.

Elliot Page as Viktor Hargreeves / The White Violin / Umbrella Number Seven

Viktor Hargreeves begins the series presenting as Vanya, the most reserved and quiet member of the Umbrella Academy cast, transitioning in the third season.

While it initially appeared that the Hargreeves child designated “Seven” had no appreciable powers, it was later revealed that he in fact was the member of the team with the greatest potential destructive power, harnessed through his talent for the violin.

For the majority of Viktor’s life, his adoptive father suppressed his powers through medication, which was typical of his manipulative strategies.

Colm Feore as Sir Reginald Hargreeves / The Monocle

The head of the family, Sir Reginald Hargreeves, is the most enigmatic member of the Umbrella Academy cast, with his motives for forming the Academy remaining largely unknown. While it can be assumed he is acting philanthropically, this contrasts with his cruel and cold manner towards his adopted children.

In fact, it turns out that Sir Reginald is actually an extradimensional creature who fled his own home after some kind of unspecified cataclysm and has been involved in some of the most secret conspiracies in the world.

Jordan Claire Robbins as Grace Hargreeves / Mom

Grace Hargreeves is, by far, the kindest and most humane member of the Umbrella Academy cast at first, which is ironic considering she turns out to be an android created by Sir Reginald as a combination housekeeper and maternal figure.

Adam Godley/Ken Hall as Phinneus Pogo

Pogo is an erudite, talking chimpanzee, who was given sapience and trained by Sir Reginald as the result of an accident in space (which seems to be a not-infrequent issue for the Umbrella Academy cast). Along with Grace, he helps raise the children and is shown to be far more of a caring paternal figure than their adoptive father.

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Due to Five’s ability to travel through time, the Umbrella Academy cast comes into conflict with a highly bureaucratic organization known as the Commission that maintains the stability of the time-space continuum, using lethal force whenever necessary (or even when it is not).

The Temps Commission

Mary J. Blige as Cha-Cha 

Cha-Cha is one half of a duo (along with Hazel) of highly proficient, highly deadly assassins who carry the Commission’s orders to kill as necessary to maintain the timeline.

Cameron Britton as Hazel

While Cha-Cha appears to have no remorse for the violence she commits in the course of their missions, her partner Hazel is tired of killing people for the Commission, though he shows little reluctance to.

Kate Walsh as The Handler

The Handler (whose real name is not revealed, if she has one) is a manipulative and highly competent member of the Commission, who is particularly interested in Five’s ability to travel through time unaided.

Ritu Arya as Lila Pitts

Lila Pitts is one of the most confusing characters in the Umbrella Academy cast, whose allegiances seem to twist and turn as the story goes on. However, that makes sense, considering that she turns out to be another of the 43 super-powered children, with the ability to mimic others.

Patrice Goodman as Dot 

Dot is one of the managers at the Commission, who appears to hold Five in mysteriously high esteem.

Ken Hall as Herb

In addition to performing the motion capture bodywork for Pogo, Ken Hall portrays Herb, another big fan of Five’s at The Commission.

Robin Atkin Downes as A.J. Carmichael

A.J. Carmichael is the head of the Commission, the mastermind between innumerable time-travel plots and conspiracies, and one of the oddest characters in the Umbrella Academy cast.

Carmichael is a sapient goldfish suspended in a water tank attached to an android body, which allows him to speak, move, and chain-smoke.

Otto – Jason Bryden, Axel – Kris Holden-Ried, Oscar – Tom Sinclair (The Swedes)

The Swedes are not members of the Commission, but contract assassins hired to kill Five. The three near-silent killers are triplets and, while they do not appear to have superhuman abilities, are expert and ruthless at their job.

Other than the Commission (and its rogue agents), one of the greatest threats the Umbrella Academy cast encounters is the Sparrow Academy. Due to a number of time-travel shenanigans, an alternate timeline reveals that Sir Reginald adopted a (nearly) entirely different set of newborns among the 43 children and formed a different organization.

The Sparrows

Justin Cornwell – Marcus Hargreeves / Sparrow Number One

Marcus Hargreeves is the leader of the Sparrow Academy, with the powers of increased strength (enough to rival, if not outmatch Luther) and agility.

Justin H. Min – Ben Hargreeves / Sparrow Number Two

The only member of the Umbrella Academy cast to also be a Sparrow, Ben Hargreeves is alive in this timeline, with the same tentacular super abilities. However, he appears to be significantly colder and more volatile as a Sparrow.

Britne Oldford as Fei Hargreeves / Sparrow Number Three 

Fei Hargreeves appears to be blind at first glance, but actually controls psychically-emanated crows that act as her eyes and weapons against anyone she wishes, including the Umbrella Academy cast.

Jake Epstein as Alphonso Hargreeves / Sparrow Number Four

Alphonso Hargreeves is, on the surface, the most chill and relaxed member of the Sparrows, though not without his dark side. He has the ability to absorb kinetic energy (from say, being punched) and inflict it back on an attacker.

Genesis Rodriguez as Sloane Hargreeves / Sparrow Number Five

Sloane Hargreeves has the ability to control gravity, though it does not appear to be telekinesis in the traditional sense.

Cazzie David as Jayme Hargreeves / Sparrow Number Six

Jayme Hargreeves seems to have nearly as caustic of a mentality as Five among the Umbrella Academy cast and at least as equal to him in hand-to-hand combat. However, her actual power is the ability to spit hallucinatory venom at her opponents.

Christopher Hargreeves / Sparrow Number Seven

Without a doubt, the strangest character in the entire Umbrella Academy cast is Christopher Hargreeves, a sentient, floating cube who appears to have telekinetic powers as well as some kind of control over energy. Despite his appearance, he is referred to as male and is able to communicate with his siblings through odd noises, though no one else can understand him.