The Umbrella Academy showrunner Steve Blackman discusses the shocking nature of the series finale. The ending saw the Hargreeves siblings sacrificing themselves and being erased from history to save the universe, realizing this was the only way to fix all the broken timelines and apocalypses they caused. The Umbrella Academy season 4 ended with a restored timeline without the dysfunctional Hargreeves family that the show had revolved around since the beginning.

While speaking with Collider, Blackman explains why he chose to end the series this way and reveals how the cast reacted to their fates. He discussed the importance of subverting a traditional ending for a superhero story that did justice to the characters’ arcs. Blackman also shares that while he considered other endings, this was the conclusion he always wanted most, and that he felt fit best with the overarching series. Check out his comments below:

Early on, I wanted to challenge the notion of, can you be a superhero if nobody knows you ever existed or knew who you were? I wanted to have an untraditional ending. I didn’t want them to die, per se, but this was a way to get them to a worthy ending where they’re saving the world, but they’re saving a world that they caused to go kablooey themselves. Not directly, but they were the reason things were going bad anyway.

This was the ending I really wanted. I did talk about some other endings, but I always came back to this one in my mind.

I said to [the cast], “It’s not really dying, it’s ceasing to exist.” I know that sounds like semantics, but it’s slightly different. But the truth is that they all liked the ending. They thought it was a good way out. It was sad to shoot that final scene, but I think everyone felt it was a worthy ending. They were all very good with it. I didn’t get anyone pushing back. They thought, “This is the way out.”

I withheld the last pages of the script to the very end, which I’ve done every season. It’s not to be mean. I just don’t want them to overthink the scene. I want it to be a little more spontaneous. So, I gave it to them the night before, or a day and a half before, and they came in and were like, “Whoa!” It was cool.

The Umbrella Academy’s Ending Achieves A Rare Feat For Netflix Originals

The Story Had The Chance To End Properly

Despite issues with The Umbrella Academy‘s season 4 overall narrative, the series was able to have a definitive ending, a luxury that most Netflix original series do not have due to premature cancellations. The Umbrella Academy always found a way to extend its story by introducing new timelines and apocalypses, stuck in a cycle of the Hargreeves’ heroic actions in one timeline ultimately dooming another reality. The only way to end the cycle was for the Hargreeves siblings to sacrifice themselves and be erased from all history.

The Umbrella Academy ‘s ending was far from perfect, but it was a triumph to have a conclusive ending at all.

Killing all the core characters and erasing them from the restored timeline ensured that this was truly the end of the story and did not leave room for potential spinoffs or a season 5. The actors had the chance to see their characters’ journeys through to the end, a bittersweet culmination after playing them for years and given the development of each character. This opportunity, along with Blackman’s opportunity to deliver the ending he wanted most, is becoming less and less common.

The final season also answered many lingering questions from throughout the series, including how the original Ben Hargreeves died via the Jennifer Incident and why a version of Five founded the Commission in the first place. The Society, 1899, and many other Netflix originals never had the chance to follow up on many of the tantalizing mysteries that they teased. The Umbrella Academy‘s ending was far from perfect, but it was a triumph to have a conclusive ending at all.