The Umbrella Academy, a Netflix series based on Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá’s comic book series, concluded its fourth season with a mix of heartbreaking and hopeful futures. The show, which premiered in 2019, was well-received by critics and audiences. Season 4 follows the Hargreeves in Reginald’s custom timeline, six years after the third season’s conclusion. Despite their separation, most of them remain connected.
Viktor, kidnapped by Sy Grossman, seeks the Umbrellas to find his daughter, Jennifer. They regain their powers through a jar of marigolds in Sy’s possession. They discover Jennifer is under Reginald’s protection, the Keepers want to trigger “the cleanse,” and Jennifer and Ben are involved in the apocalypse. To save the world, the Hargreeves make a significant sacrifice, bringing their stories to a definitive end.
Did the Hargreeves siblings die after The Umbrella Academy season 4?
The Keepers, led by Gene (Nick Offerman) and Jean (Megan Mullally), believed they lived in a broken timeline. They used the Umbrella Academy as a prime example and believed in the Umbrella Effect theory. They believed a catastrophic event called The Cleanse would remove broken timelines, restoring the main one, and Jennifer was key to this event.
After the Hargreeves couldn’t stop the cleanse, Lila tells Five that their affair ended after seven years of being lost across the multiverse. Five finds himself in a subway station and is taken to Max’s Delicatessen, a diner run by his variants. There, he learns that he, his siblings, and the rest of the marigold children are responsible for the world’s end in countless timelines.
The arrival of marigolds on Earth and the creation of the Hargreeves and other children led to the creation of the multiverse. The diner was covered with artwork depicting various endings. Five believed the only way to save the universe was to let the cleanse consume them and their marigolds, resulting in their deaths and erasure from history.
After Lila took her family, children, and Allison’s daughter Claire to the subway station and made sure they got on the train to a safer timeline, she rejoined the Hargreeves, and they waited for the cleanse to catch up with them. The Umbrella Academy’s final scene showed the main timeline, which was shown to Viktor in a vision, and various characters from past seasons happily living in it, as were Hazel, Agnes, the Swedes, and the Handler. The Hargreeves weren’t there, confirming that their sacrifice fixed the multiverse, but they were completely erased.
What happened to Sir Reginald Hargreeves in The Umbrella Academy’s final timeline?
The Hargreeves visited their father, Reginald, to learn about his protection of Jennifer’s town and his agreement to help them regain memories of Ben’s death in their original timeline. Reginald admitted to setting up a town to protect Jennifer and help them avoid the Umbrellas and marigold hosts. However, Viktor convinced him not to kill Ben as soon as they found him.
In season 4 of The Umbrella Academy, Viktor and Reginald worked closely, with Viktor feeling unworthy of his treatment. Reginald, unaware of Abigail‘s role in the cleanse, listened to her and her motives, and welcomed the end of the world with his wife by his side.
It’s unknown if Reginald is alive in the main timeline or not, but if the Hargreeves’ sacrifice and the cleanse undid their whole existence, then Reginald never released the marigolds and probably died with Abigail when their home planet was destroyed, though he might have still traveled to Earth without releasing the marigolds.
Ben & Jennifer turned out to be a deadly combination
In season 4, The Umbrella Academy revealed that Ben died in the original timeline when he opened a container containing a deadly weapon. He helped Jennifer escape, and they touched hands. Reginald shot them, but the event was erased from the team’s memories. In the current timeline, Jen and Ben’s hands touch when Gene and Jean hit the Umbrellas’ van, initiating the cleanse.
Reginald’s wife, Abigail, created marigolds and an opposite particle called “durango,” which caused the extinction of everything. Jennifer hosted Durango, and when she touched Ben in the original and current timelines, they triggered the apocalypse. Despite their efforts, including Viktor, the Hargreeves couldn’t save Ben, and he and Jennifer merged into a monstrous creature that consumed everything.
The Umbrella Academy season 4’s mid-credits scene
The credits of The Umbrella Academy show behind-the-scenes photos from all seasons, but there’s one final surprise in a mid-credits scene. The scene goes back to the tree shown before the show cut to the credits and the camera goes down to its roots to show eight golden flowers blossoming. These flowers represent Luther (Tom Hopper), Diego (David Castañeda), Allison (Emmy Raver-Lampman), Klaus (Robert Sheehan), Five, Ben (Justin H. Min), Viktor, and Lila, so even though they aren’t alive anymore nor are they remembered, they are still present and the flowers are a way to honor them after their sacrifice.
ALSO READ: The Umbrella Academy: How Do Viktor’s Powers Work In The Series? Explained
