Elliot Page opened up about Viktor Hargreeves’ journey toward self-acceptance following the emotional final season of The Umbrella Academy. He told Collider in a recent interview:
“He gets opportunities to express certain things to certain people in this season that he really needs to. I think those moments are powerful moments that are a part of his self-acceptance.”
Growing up with superpowered siblings didn’t come easy for the introverted Viktor. He eventually came into his own once he discovered latent abilities hidden from him by his father Reginal Hargreeves (Colm Feore). But it took a lot of time, patience, and barely-avoided apocalyptic disasters. Viktor’s journey culminates into a shocking fight with his ne’er-do-well adopted father.
Musician Gerard Way first introduced The Umbrella Academy in 2007. The comic series follows a dysfunctional family of adopted children with superpowers as they take on a wild variety of supervillains (and occasionally each other). Similar to Garth Ennis’ The Boys, it’s a gritty look into the underbelly of what it means to be a superhero.
The popular Netflix series follows these same children as traumatized adults drawn once again into the business of saving the world. Viktor starts the series as the unsuspecting villain responsible for the Umbrella Academy’s first fight against world destruction. He ends it standing side-by-side with his siblings in their biggest battle yet.
Viktor’s Necessary Confrontation Shows Self-Acceptance
Speaking of battles, Viktor faces his biggest one yet when he finally gets to confront Reginald Hargreeves over his horrendous parenting. Page describes the experience:
“Scenes like that, as an actor, are fun because they’re just juicy. This ultimate confrontation he gets to have with his father, where he’s expressing a lot of things that he’s been carrying for a long time, is a big deal for Viktor and represents a shift in him. I think it’s important for him and his journey in learning to move on and let go of a lot of anger that he’s holding.”
Page also touched on the specific opportunity that scene presented, both in terms of working with Feore one-on-one and for Viktor as a character.
“It was wonderful to have those scenes together. Viktor finally found the ability to accept himself, which is the most valuable thing to him, I’d say, versus how his father feels.”
Reginald has been a menace in the lives of the Umbrella Academy since they were children. But his behavior toward Viktor was especially heinous. He gaslit the young man into thinking he had no powers, made him feel like a failure, and encouraged the other siblings to treat Viktor with equal amounts of disregard.
Page’s excitement over the long overdue confrontation is visible in Viktor’s heated exchange with Reginald. Finally, someone takes the old man to task for being a bad parent! It’s a powerful moment among many in the fourth and final season of The Umbrella Academy.
All four seasons of
The Umbrella Academy
are currently streaming on Netflix.
