An eccentric mustachioed man fathers an unconventional family of genius children (some of whom are adopted), who quickly fold under the pressures of being extraordinary in adulthood and must contend with their dysfunctional differences while living under the same roof.
This is the set-up for both the beloved 2001 Wes Anderson film The Royal Tenenbaums and for Netflix’s latest comic book-based series The Umbrella Academy.
The first full trailer for the highly anticipated series has dropped, promising a stylish aesthetic and intriguing characters. The synopsis for the series reads:
“On the same day in 1989, forty-three infants are inexplicably born to random, unconnected women who showed no signs of pregnancy the day before. Seven are adopted by Sir Reginald Hargreeves, a billionaire industrialist, who creates The Umbrella Academy and prepares his “children” to save the world. But not everything went according to plan. In their teenage years, the family fractured and the team disbanded. Now, the six surviving thirty-something members reunite upon the news of Hargreeve’s passing. Luther, Diego, Allison, Klaus, Vanya and Number Five work together to solve a mystery surrounding their father’s death. But the estranged family once again begins to come apart due to their divergent personalities and abilities, not to mention the imminent threat of a global apocalypse.”
The series is based in the Eisner award-winning Dark Horse Comics series from My Chemical Romance’s Gerard Way and artist Gabriel Bá. Showrunner Steve Blackman (Fargo) helms the series, which combines dysfunctional family drama with superhero tropes. 17 years after their adoption, the estranged powered siblings reunite after the death of their adopted father.
Among them is Vanya (Ellen Page), a violinist who is the only family member without superpowers, Luther/Spaceboy (Game of Thrones Tom Hopper) an astronaut with the super strength and body of a martian ape, and Klaus (Mortal Engines‘ Robert Sheehan) a telekinetic, necromancing slacker. They are joined by fellow siblings Allison (Emmy Raver-Lampman), who can alter reality by lying, Diego (Jane the Virgin‘s David Castañeda) a bad boy who can throw knives and hold his breath for a long amount of time, and The Boy (Nicky, Ricky, Dicky & Dawn’s Aiden Gallagher) a time-traveling teen who never ages.
Oh, and there’s a talking chimp named Pogo, and a time-traveling assassin played by Mary J. Blige. This show has it all! There’s a lot to get excited about with this upcoming series, which promises plenty of weirdness and offbeat humor. We’ll be reviewing the series when it premieres on Netflix on February 15th.
What do you think of the trailer? Will you be tuning in for The Umbrella Academy?
(via ComicBook.com, image: screencap)
Want more stories like this? Become a subscriber and support the site!
—The Mary Sue has a strict comment policy that forbids, but is not limited to, personal insults toward anyone, hate speech, and trolling.—
Published: Jan 24, 2019 01:52 pm