‘Umbrella Academy’ Boss on Viktor’s Coming Out Story: “It Was Very Collaborative”

At this point, both Elliot Page’s story and how it dovetails with The Umbrella Academy is well-trod territory. On December 1, 2020, Page came out as transgender. And in response, the Netflix series tweaked their Season 3 storyline to incorporate the transition, revealing the character now known as Viktor Hargreeves. As showrunner Steve Blackman explained to Decider, though, the process of figuring how — and when — to handle the transition on the upcoming season was a team effort.

“I finished the script when Elliott phoned me and said he was transitioning,” Blackman said. “And in fairness, he didn’t demand that I put that in or not put that in. He said, ‘I trust you. We’re friends, do what you want to do.’ But it was very important to me, I thought, to put it in the show. I thought it felt right.”

In order to make sure that the storyline was true to the experience, one of Blackman’s first moves was to contact GLAAD, an organization that monitors and aids the entertainment industry in regards to issues that impact the LGBTQIA+ community. He was paired with Nick Adams, Vice President of the GLAAD Media Institute, who has been with the organization since 1998. From there, Blackman also worked with a trans writer (and amateur boxer!) named Thomas Page McBee, who has worked on Netflix’s Tales of the City, The L Word: Generation Q, as well as writing two books: Amateur, and Man Alive.

Blackman credits McBee with being his guide through the process, adding that McBee, “really helped me understand… I didn’t know much about transgender and I’m still learning about transgender. But it was so important to me that it was authentic and right, but also a positive story. And we didn’t want it to become the story of the show.”

To that end, the way the series does play Viktor’s coming out story is simple, sweet and understated in a way that’s surprising for the usually over-the-top show. It also happens almost immediately at the beginning of the new season. In the Season 3 premiere, there’s just a hint that the character, then called Vanya, is grappling with something; specifically when Allison Hargreeves (Emmy Raver-Lampman) calls Vanya a “good sister.” There’s a look out the window, some more thoughts, but it isn’t until Episode 2 that things pick up for real.

After a quick haircut and wardrobe change, Viktor reveals himself to his siblings — specifically Diego (David Castañeda), Five (Aidan Gallagher) and Klaus (Robert Sheehan), whose reaction is basically to the effect of “sounds good, let’s move on.” Pleased, Viktor does, but a bigger conversation comes later with Allison. She apologizes to Viktor, explaining that she feels she should have known. Viktor tells Allison not to worry about it, that he didn’t know for a really long time… It was only until he watched his girlfriend Sissy (Marin Ireland) realize she wasn’t straight that he realized his own truth. Again, Viktor is readily accepted by his sibling.

The last person to find out — as usual — is Luther (Tom Hopper) in Episode 3, who has been briefly kidnapped by the rival Sparrow Academy. When he returns, he asks Diego if they should throw a party for Viktor. And in an adorable moment, Diego immediately explains that Luther wants to throw a “big, stupid party” so Viktor knows he’s loved. “Do you feel loved?” Diego asks. “Yeah,” answers Viktor, pleased. “I do.” Diego answers, “Good. You are.”

“We wanted to just to say, a family can… When it’s someone who’s transgender, you can love them, you can accept them as a family like anything else,” Blackman noted. “So Elliot was part of all of that. It was very collaborative. And we did it early, simply because in what was going on in the world of the plot, it made sense to do it earlier than wait. It was a nice to start that transition, and then go with it.”

The Umbrella Academy Season 3 is now streaming on Netflix.