I found myself trying to ignore many errors with The Umbrella Academy season 4, but one brilliant casting decision allowed me to look past at least one of the mistakes. The Umbrella Academy season 4 cast was one of the few saving graces for the superhero show’s final run. Whenever the story was lacking or the loose plot was getting a little too much to handle, I found solace in the brilliant chemistry between the actors. In fact, one character was so perfectly cast that it allowed me to forgive the plot hole his presence created.
By the end of The Umbrella Academy season 4, the various members of the Hargreeves family combine to create an even more dysfunctional spin on the found family dynamic. From off-kilter aging to multiversal copies, the Hargreeves siblings have experienced a traumatic journey like no other. That being said, I was very focused on one of the season 4 arcs that stood out to me for its weirdness, but I was also okay with it at the same time.
Five Should Look Way Older In The Umbrella Academy Season 4’s Second Half
Number Five spent 7 years lost in time with Lila
I love the concept of Five being an old man in a much younger form, but the fact remains that he’s been aging conventionally ever since the reveal in The Umbrella Academy season 1. In the final season, it was already a little unusual that he looked no older, despite the five-year time jump, but by the end of the saga, Aidan Gallagher’s character is 12 years older than he was at the end of The Umbrella Academy season 3. However, the only physical difference is that his hair is longer.
What I found frustrating is that there seemed to be no consideration for the fact that Five would continue to be played by Gallagher during those alternate-timeline sequences.
Lila and Five’s lost-in-time arc is, I think, a rare, well-executed facet of season 4 – weird romance notwithstanding. What I found frustrating is that there seemed to be no consideration for the fact that Five would continue to be played by Gallagher during those alternate-timeline sequences. Lila also fails to age appropriately for this stretch of The Umbrella Academy season 4, but I found that more forgivable as the character is a fully grown woman. Of course, they still should have made more effort to sell the illusion, but it worked better than it did with Five.
Aidan Gallagher Is Perfect As Five (& I’m Glad He Wasn’t Recast)
Having a new actor playing a slightly older Five would have been a bigger mistake
Despite my misgivings about Five not looking old enough in his future with Lila, I also think it would have been a crime to recast him. Gallagher is the perfect fit for his Umbrella Academy character, and he does a brilliant job of adjusting his performance to account for his apparent change in age. Replacing him would also have meant him being absent from the finale – which would have been very unfair after his service to the show.
Having said that, the make-up department didn’t exactly go out of their way to age Gallagher up for the season’s final part of the story. Instead, his hair just continues to get longer and there’s an implication of him now being able to grow a beard. It feels very much like a token effort that could have been executed much better. If it weren’t for the expositional dialogue and Gallgher’s inspired acting choices, Five’s story in The Umbrella Academy season 4 would have ground to a confusing halt.
