Netflix’s ‘The Umbrella Academy’ Casting Includes Merlin’s Tom Hopper & Misfits Robert Sheehan
Following on from the announcement a few weeks ago that Ellen Page would be joining Netflix’s adaptation of ‘The Umbrella Academy‘, the streaming service has revealed the rest of her co-stars, which includes a number of familiar faces.
The show 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’. Hargreeves sets about preparing Luther, Diego, Allison, Vanya, Klaus, Ben, and Number Five, for an unnamed future world-ending event.
Tom Hopper is set to play Luther (aka Spaceboy), groomed from an early age to be the leader of The Umbrella Academy – a responsibility weighs heavily on him. He is resilient, a workaholic, and possesses the ability of heightened physical strength. Upstanding to a fault, Luther always tries to do the right thing, even if that means putting others before himself.
Hopper has most recently been seen playing Dickon Tarly in ‘Game Of Thrones’, but also starred as Billy Bones in ‘Black Sails’ and, of course, Sir Percival in ‘Merlin’.
Robert Sheehan takes the role of Klaus (aka The Séance), which, if you know Sheehan’s work, pretty much sounds perfect for him. He is a drug addict and lovable mess of a human being and yet, if you ask him, any day now his life is going to turn around. He’s a classic “middle child” – a disarming pleaser who is seemingly everyone’s friend but will rob you blind without thinking twice.
Sheehan came to most people’s attention playing Nathan Young in the brilliant ‘Misfits’. He then went on to star as Darren in ‘Love/Hate’, Vladek in ‘Fortitude’, and a load of other tv & film roles.
Emmy Raver-Lampman will portray Allison (aka The Rumor) who is beautiful, elegant, and a formerly world-famous movie star who possesses the power of suggestion – anything she says aloud comes to pass. Her life seems perfect from the outside, but her ability has undermined every relationship she’s ever had. With her career on the decline and her marriage in shambles, she refuses to use her power as she seeks a more authentic life.
Raver-Lampman has mainly been a stage actress up to this point, having performed in the Broadway productions of ‘Hamilton’, ‘Hair’ and ‘Jekyll & Hyde’, along with the Chicago productions of ‘Hamilton’, where she played Angelica Schuyler, and ‘The SpongeBob Musical’.
David Castañeda takes on Diego (aka The Kraken), a skilled, intense vigilante who has a real problem with authority. He isn’t as naturally strong or smart as his siblings, so he’s worked three times as hard for everything. Believing he should have been the leader of his family instead of his brother, he carries a massive chip on his shoulder that makes him hostile to just about everyone.
Castañeda has appeared in tv shows such as ‘Switched at Birth’, where he played Jorge and ‘Jane the Virgin’ as Nicholas. He’s also popped up in episodes of ‘Blindspot’, ‘Lie to Me’ and ‘The Player’.
Aidan Gallagher has landed the role of Number Five (aka The Boy) who appears to be a thirteen-year-old boy, but is actually a fifty-eight-year-old man trapped in the body of a child. He doesn’t suffer fools and is the smartest person in the room. He’s haunted by the things he’s seen and done, and is on the verge of losing his grip on reality.
Gallagher is only 14yrs old, but will be well known to younger fans as Nicky in Nickelodeon’s ‘Nicky, Ricky, Dicky & Dawn’.
The eagle-eyed amongst you might have spotted there are only five names there, and in the description of the book, it mentions seven children. Add in Ellen Page’s Vanya, that brings it to six, but we are still one person down – Ben (aka The Horror). There is a plot reason for that, which I won’t go into here for fear of spoilers, but the info is out there online if you want to go and look.
‘The Umbrella Academy‘ is due to stream on to Netflix in 2018.
