The Big Picture

• Netflix is giving fans a sneak peek at The Umbrella Academy's final season with an excerpt from the Episode 1 script.
• The script page reveals the episode title, hinting at a disturbing discovery for the Hargreeves siblings after altering the timeline once again.
• Clues to the siblings' original timeline remain, hinting at a potential multiverse experience in Season 4 with unforeseen repercussions.

Netflix is helping fans gear up for the last season of The Umbrella Academy. In preparation for its August release, the platform released an excerpt of the script, via X (formerly Twitter.) For a platform famous for keeping plot details of its fan-favorite shows under wraps, the script page reveals quite a lot about the upcoming season. Even the episode title, “The Unbearable Tragedy of Getting What You Want,” is quite revealing. The entirety of the previous season revolved around yet another attempt to save the world. But after the siblings change time (again), the Umbrella Academy is disturbed by what they find. Once again, the Hargreeves learn that no matter what they do, they ultimately cause a negative impact.

The short scene of dialogue also hints at where the season is going. It follows married couple Jean and Gene Thibedeau, who look to purchase contraband from Eddy. The seedy salesman appears to be in the business of peddling time-contradictory items, one of which is the campaign button for JFK’s third term. However, the Thibedeaus are most intrigued by the contradiction between two seemingly identical VHS tapes. Part of the script reads:

“[Jean] holds up two VHS copies of a cheesy romantic comedy, ‘LOVE ON LOAN.’ Gene’s eyes widen, thrilled. The boxes are identical in every way except one features a MOVIE STAR we don’t recognize; the other: ALLISON HARGREEVES (Season One). Same movie. Same box art. Different stars.”

This excerpt shows that while the Hargreeves siblings did their work in altering the timeline, some clues to the one they came from remain. Allison (Emmy Raver-Lampman) gets what she wants when she finds that her husband from the ‘60s, Ray (Yusuf Gatewood), and her daughter from the present timeline, Claire (Coco Assad), can exist together. But as things usually go in this series, this course of action will have repercussions.

‘The Umbrella Academy’ Seems To Have Its Hands In the Multiverse

The existence of both VHS tapes seems to imply the existence of a Multiverse. And while it is easy to make comparisons to Marvel shows like Loki that put converging timelines in the spotlight, changing time isn’t exactly new. The underrated sci-fi series, Fringe, created one of the most innovative examples of parallel dimensions. Quite similar to The Umbrella Academy, characters Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv) and Peter Bishop (Joshua Jackson) discover that a timeline next to theirs is essentially the same but with little differences.

It is more than likely that The Umbrella Academy is segueing into such an experience in its final season. The best way to wrap up the series may not necessarily be to have the Hargreeves change things once again, but to understand that making a perfect world may be impossible. Allison all but turned into a villain at the end of Season 3 to get what she wanted. Now that she has it, it would be fitting if she finds she has made things even worse. But as much as viewers can theorize on these pages, The Umbrella Academy is not an easy show to predict.

Fans will have to wait until the series premieres on Netflix on August 8 to get the full scoop. See the new script page above.

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