It looks like The Umbrella Academy season 3 is setting Ben as the villain. Justin H. Min sheds light on this speculation in a new interview.
Netflix’s renewal of The Umbrella Academy season 3 has yet to be confirmed. However, it’s only likely a matter of time for this to happen, given the show’s success. As the cast and crew await their return to the set, Min dished about the fate of his character.
The second season ended with a major reveal in the alternate timeline. Ben, also known as Number Six/The Horror, is alive, and he belongs to a different superhero team, the Sparrow Academy. He’s also sporting a new look that signifies how different his season 3 character is from the original Ben.
Preparing for big bad Ben
Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Min said that they are making a conscious effort to physically differentiate new Ben in season 3 from ghost Ben in season 1 and 2.
Min doesn’t specifically state that his character is the new big bad, but he revealed that he needs to make new Ben tougher and meaner. Showrunner Steve Blackman also told him that he has to work out ahead of the filming of The Umbrella Academy season 3.
New Ben will have a lot of fighting scenes next season. The actor also teased that Ben’s transformation will be “very jarring.”
“I think the thing that fans seem to resonate most with Ben is that he’s the kind, compassionate brother,” the actor said. “To completely flip that on his head and he sort of becomes this darker, edgier, potentially more villainous antagonist character…I think it will be really jarring for them but also really exciting.”
Deviation from the comic books
Min also did an interview with Collider and said that he feels fortunate to be working for this Netflix series. His character was originally billed as a guest cast, but he’s taking center stage next season.
This is a big deviation from the comic books since Ben is not even in the source material. Netflix and Blackman changed much of the story to bring his character. Needless to say, he’s pretty psyched about coming back.
“I had free reign to build ghost Ben from the ground up, and do whatever I wanted to with him,” Min said. “And then, here we are, at the end of season 2, and I literally get to do it, all over again, with another character who’s brand new.”
The first and second season of The Umbrella Academy remains streaming on Netflix.
Image used courtesy of Netflix/YouTube