The Umbrella Academy showrunner and producer Steve Blackman reveals that the show’s fourth season will have fewer episodes with six compared to previous seasons which each had ten episodes.
The 46-year-old producer made this revelation via his Twitter account when he confirmed a tweet made by a fan account, @tua_updates. The tweet stated, “There are rumors that Season 4 of the Umbrella Academy will only be 6 episodes long, and filming could wrap as early as May 2023.”
https://twitter.com/SteveBlackmanTV/status/1602875967717855237
Netflix originally announced in August that the fourth season will be the show’s final season. The platform has also stated that the new show will be shorter than the previous ones. However, fans didn’t expect that the number of episodes will be cut down by nearly half. Since this announcement, however, the show’s supporters have aired their disbelief online. One such fan, @FIVES_KNIFE, replied to Blackman’s tweet and accused him of lying about the new episode length. In his words, “There is no way The Umbrella Academy S4 has 6 episodes. Stop lying. That isn’t true. Stop.” Blackman, however, reiterated his stance and confirmed that the show will maintain its quality despite its reduced number of episodes. He wrote, “It’s true. But you’re going to love them.”.
https://twitter.com/SteveBlackmanTV/status/1602876419276578818
The Umbrella Academy began as an almost perfect adaptation of the comic book series of the same name, which was created and written by Gerard Way. However, the show has since diverged from the comics and created its own plotlines. While the first two seasons had numerous similarities with the comics Apocalypse and Dallas respectively, the third season completely deviated from Hotel Oblivion. As a result, the direction in which this new season will go is currently unknown.
At the end of the third season, each member of the team went their separate ways in a new timeline as occurred in previous seasons. However, they no longer have their powers. Given the situation of things, Blackman’s announcement that the upcoming season will only have six episodes is puzzling as season 3’s ending sets the stage for a grand and robust story that many believe will take more than six episodes to tell, especially since its premiere episode, “The Unbearable Tragedy of Getting What You Want,” teases a worse story than the team anticipated at the end of the third season.
The Umbrella Academy isn’t the only film Blackman will create for Netflix. The producer is currently working on a live-action adaptation of Guerilla Games’ Horizon franchise for Sony that will also air on Netflix.
At the moment, Netflix hasn’t revealed the show’s release date. However, rumors suggest it will debut in late 2023 or early 2024.
