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- The Umbrella Academy season 2: Robert Sheehan and Tom Hopper discuss the return of the series
Sorry for the bad news, but the apocalypse is upon us. Again. Fortunately, for fans and humanity in general, this only happens in the second season of Netflix's animated comic series The Umbrella Academy, which premieres on July 31 (check out our The Umbrella Academy review). season 2 for more). The season one finale saw the overwhelmed Hargreeves brothers fight to save 2019 from the apocalypse (add your own real-life 2020 joke here). To do this, they used the power of Five to travel back in time and fix everything. In Season 2, we learn that their bold decision accidentally landed them in Dallas in the '60s, just before John F. Kennedy was assassinated, and now they must save the world (from themselves) again. It mixes the real-life period setting with dark comedy, violence, out-of-this-world high fantasy, and endlessly stylish inspiration from the Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá comics on which it is based. The result is a series even more exciting than the previous one. The family arrives in the decade at different times, which means that by the time season two begins, each has begun a new and different life from the '60s. Amongst her new pursuits, Allison has found a new calling as a rights activist. civility, and Luther uses his super strength as an underground boxer, while Klaus has started a cult. As the group comes together for Season 2, we speak with stars Robert Sheehan (Klaus) and Tom Hopper (Luther) as they reveal the behind-the-scenes secrets of creating the Backstreet Boys-inspired soundtrack. season 2, how their characters would deal with the lockdown, and the time frame they're already planning to move into for The Umbrella Academy Season 3. The plot of this season draws from the comic book source material - did you have any idea what might happen to your characters this time? Robert Sheehan: After the first season, myself and our showrunner, Steve Blackman, hit it off pretty well. We were throwing ideas back and forth, and anyway, for Klaus, it depended on how the show evolved in season two, so I had a pretty good idea of what was happening to my guy. . Tom Hopper: Steve is very collaborative, and we've had conversations about where Luther was, is there some redemption that he needed to do in season two. He, too, has been in a pretty dark place since the end of the first season. He is now handling it his way and it's a little more difficult. He fights to earn a living. He found a way to channel this assault onto his father, and Steve and I wanted to make sure those things came to pass. He's not going to be down all season. You should always feel like your character is evolving.
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(Image credit: Netflix) The show's soundtrack is brilliant. When you're shooting big stage scenes that take place on a big song, do you have the track in mind when you're shooting it?
TH: Sometimes it's written in the script, as far as we know, and sometimes that song changes in the final edit. Often for the better, in fact. Music Selection Steve Blackman has a good ear and an eye for the tone of what it should be. He understands how music can affect the view of a scene. He just understands. There's a brilliant moment with the Backstreet Boys this season that I think is just killer.
Do you have a track in mind that started out as something else and then got replaced, either from this season or from the first season?
RS: There was a clue from Iggy and the Stooges – oh, hell, what was the clue now? This was supposed to be episode three of season 1, when Hazel and Cha Cha show up at the Academy and Klaus is in the back, playing it with his headphones, dancing down the hall to the bathroom. while the shooting is taking place. - "There will be a showdown." But then it turned into something else. I have long enough to know how to wait to switch, if it helps you to have it and run the old juice, great!
Considering that a big part of the show's plot is the apocalypse, and the world has gotten a lot more apocalyptic lately, were there any concerns about releasing this now?
RS: Netflix can't get our stuff done fast enough, because the show, with all its dance and game themes, is about being a kid again. The whole apocalypse thing is just a structure to keep things going. It is, dare I say it, cynically, a means of endangerment. The show itself, exhilarating, is great fun reminding everyone that we are just children disguised as adults.
TH: There are certain issues that we deal with that are very important, and I think they are dealt with in a very sensitive, appropriate and respectful way. Other than that, it's a fun trip, not to be taken too seriously. Like Rob said, it's all about dancing in your room and not worrying, and that's what these characters are all about.
How do you think your characters would have dealt with the blockage?
TH: I think Luther is well trained in that, to be honest, having been on the moon for four years.
RS: Klaus would not have done well in the confinement, he would have broken the protocols to the left, to the right and to the center.
How do you follow the rules of time travel in the Umbrella Academy universe? Which are the rules?
TH: It's so funny because on set you always say to yourself, wait! If we have done this, how can we do this? And why don't we do this now? Honestly, I feel bad for our showrunner Steve Blackman as we bombard him with questions about time travel.
RS: It's because there are no rules, we are quite fast and cowardly. And actually, there's a lot more time travel in the second series, and it becomes something that works for you. Five had a very volatile relationship with him in the first season. It's a hill he had to face.
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(Image credit: Netflix) The graphic novels are now at chapter three, where does that leave you for season three? Have these conversations already started and would you like to start one? RS: I would love to do one. TH: Yeah, it's a great gift to have the kind of show that we have, because we have a showrunner who is very collaborative, which is a huge plus. He is very liberating as an actor. So yes, absolutely. It's great to have this source material to influence where we might go and what we might do. As you've seen in the first two seasons, there are influences from the comics, but it also allows us to move away from that structure, and I love to see where Steve Blackman's mind can go, in the -beyond the comics and how good it is. can bear it. ; what can you do with these characters. He has an incredible ability to take us to hell and back in a very unique way. I would love to come back and do a lot more. RS: Yes, graphic novels are pure comedic escape. They include time travel powers, they're very supernatural, so I think Steve's intuition is always to bring him back, put him to bed, and make the journey more human. Did you start having these conversations with Steve Blackman? TH: You always talk about the seasons to come. From the first season, you're still talking about where the show could go. So yes, there are always conversations about upcoming seasons. RS: I always have dreams and email Steve. This is the fun part. If you could personally pick a time and place for the gang to travel to in a future season, what would you both like to see? RS: medieval times! In fact, there's one in Toronto, Tom. If they don't want to use medieval times, we could still go to medieval times. It would be a good laugh. TH: Medieval would be interesting. I would love to do the '80s. I love the '80s as an era. That's when I was born, but I'm also a huge fan of Back To The Future. RS: What if they go back to the day they were born in 1989? The entire 80th century has been controversial, look at when the Berlin Wall fell. TH: A lot of things happened in the '2s... Live Aid! This Queen performance changed everything. Imagine Luther as Freddie Mercury, that would be great. CORRECT. I'll be working on a 'slick... Umbrella Academy Season 31 premieres on Netflix on July 2020, XNUMX.