Entertainment
Netflix has a new comic book series adaptation coming out and the cast of The Umbrella Academy is a pretty impressive one. The series is based on comic books written by My Chemical Romance frontman Gerard Way and illustrated by Gabriel Bá, and it follows a fractured group of super-powered siblings. Adopted by a powerful billionaire who mysteriously died, the estranged family must once again — you guessed it — come together to save the world.
According to the Netflix synopsis, the story begins when 43 infants are spontaneously born on the same day to mothers who showed no signs of being pregnant. Sir Reginald Hargreeves adopts seven of them, knowing they possess special powers, and begins training them himself as part of a crime-fighting unit known as The Umbrella Academy. Considering the fact that he doesn't even bother giving them real names — he just numbers them in order of whose powers are most important — it's no surprise that the family is pretty dysfunctional. As teenagers, the siblings finally splinter apart for good and go their separate ways. But now in their 30s, they're forced to reunite when Hargreeves dies and Number Five, a teleporter who disappeared as a child, returns from the future to enlist their help in thwarting the apocalypse. There's also a sibling with super strength, one with powers of mind control, one who becomes a masked vigilante, one who can communicate with the dead, and one who doesn't seem to have any powers at all. Here's more on who's tackling what in The Umbrella Academy.
Ellen Page
Ellen Page plays Number Seven AKA Vanya, a violinist who doesn't appear to have any special powers, which of course, makes her one of the most intriguing characters. Probably the highest profile actor of the bunch, Page is best-known for her Oscar-nominated role in Juno, but she's no stranger to comic book adaptations. She also plays Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat in the X-Men movies.
Tom Hopper
Tom Hopper plays Number One AKA Luther, the chiseled, classic superhero type. His power is super-strength but he keeps his bulk under wraps. Fantasy fans may recognize him from Merlin, Doctor Who, or Game of Thrones, but you may not know that he was actually up for the role of Thor in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, according to Digital Spy. He ultimately reasons that he lost out on the franchise to Chris Hemsworth because he was a little too young for it.
Emmy Raver-Lampman
Emmy Raver-Lampman is actually a Broadway alum who was the original understudy for all three Schuyler sisters in Hamilton. She also appeared in the ensemble of 2011's Hair, 2013's Jekyll and Hyde, and 2013's A Night With Janis Joplin. In The Umbrella Academy, Raver-Lampman plays Number Three AKA Allison, a celebrity with the ability to influence others. It's her first series regular role.
David Castañeda
David Castañeda has had recurring roles on Jane the Virgin and Switched at Birth, but in The Umbrella Academy, he plays Number Two AKA Diego. As The AV Club notes in its review of the series, Diego is "a masked vigilante who can do some supernatural knife tricks and weirdly seems the most well-adjusted."
Aidan Gallagher
Aiden Gallagher takes on the role of Number Five, the time-traveler who returns from the future with news of an impending apocalypse. The 15-year-old actor is a Nickelodeon alum who starred on Nicky, Ricky, Dicky & Dawn and has a couple of Kids' Choice Awards noms under his belt to show for it.
Robert Sheehan
Robert Sheehan plays Number Four AKA Klaus, a drug addict and psychic medium who can communicate with the dead. The Irish-born actor has appeared in several British and Irish TV series, as well as 2017's Geostorm alongside Gerard Butler and 2009's Cherrybomb alongside Rupert Grint.
Mary J. Blige
Mary J. Blige plays Cha-Cha, one of two agents from a mystery organization apparently chasing Number Five through time. Aside from her prolific music career, Blige smashed barriers at the Oscars last year with two nominations for her work in Netflix's Mudbound: one for Best Supporting Actress and one for Best Original Song. She became the first black woman to receive multiple Oscar nominations in the same year, the first person to be nominated in a music category and an acting category in the same year, and the first person to receive an acting nomination in a film with a black female director.
Cameron Britton
The other of the two agents, Hazel, is played by Cameron Britton. Among his recent recognizable roles is Edmund Kemper in Netflix's serial killer series Mindhunter.
The Umbrella Academy drops Feb. 15 on Netflix.
