Ellen Page Lands Lead On Netflix’s ‘The Umbrella Academy’ Adaptation
Ellen Page has picked up the leading role in Netflix’s upcoming adaptation Gerard Way and Gabriel Ba’s 2007 comic book series ‘The Umbrella Academy‘ the streaming service has announced.
The story is set in a world where, at the instant of the final blow in a cosmic battle, 43 superhuman infants are simultaneously born to unconnected women who showed no previous signs of pregnancy. Seven of the super-powered infants survive and an alien in human disguise called Reginald Hargreeves, A.K.A. ‘The Monocle’ adopts and raises them as the superhero team – ‘The Umbrella Academy’ – preparing them for an unnamed future world-ending event.
Page is set to play Vanya Hargreeves, the black sheep of their dysfunctional family unit. She is said to be the only one of Reginald Hargreeves’ adopted children with no supernatural abilities… She is a meek and insecure wallflower, just struggling to find her place in the world. Although, unless they are making a drastic change from the books, she’s destined to become something much more powerful.
The original pilot script came from Jeremy Slater (‘The Exorcist’, ‘Fantastic Four’), but Steve Blackman (‘Fargo’, ‘Bones’, and Netflix’s upcoming ‘Altered Carbon’ adaptation) is taking showrunning duties for the series. Blackman will exec produce, along with Mike Richardson and Keith Goldberg from Dark Horse Entertainment who is producing the show, alongside Universal Cable Productions.
Page is, of course, no stranger to superhero and comic book adaptations, having starred as Kitty Pryde in the ‘X-Men’ franchise, and playing Lilly in James Gunn’s ‘Super’. She was nominated for an Academy Award, BAFTA, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award for her part playing the title role in ‘Juno’, and also played the female lead in Christopher Nolan’s mind-bendingly brilliant ‘Inception’.
The 10-episode Season 1 of ‘The Umbrella Academy‘ is due to air on Netflix in 2018.
