Netflix, the undisputed king of content in our modern streaming world announces Ellen Page set to star in a new comic book based TV show The Umbrella Academy. The comic book comes from Dark Horse and writer/creator Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance and illustrations by Gabriel Bá. News broke on Deadline just hours ago.
The Umbrella Academy follows the story of Reginald Hargreeves and his band of adopted children, all of whom have superpowers. It’s a sort of X-Men meets Fantastic Four set in an alternate 1977 where JFK was never assassinated. The character Ellen Page plays, Vanya Hargreeves, aka The White Violin, is the undoubted outcast of the group. Vanya displays no superpowers at first. But with Ellen Page filling the role there’s no doubt they will build on the mystery behind Vanya and the deadly and secret powers hiding within.
The rest of The Umbrella Academy includes Spaceboy, the leader of the Umbrella Academy and part Martian space monkey; The Kraken, the reckless and rebellious member of the group and an “insolent brat;” The Rumor, a narcissist with the ability to instantly alter reality by lying; The Séance, a morbid guy with the powers of levitation, telekinesis, and the ability to contact the dead (of course); Number Five, a 10-year-old with a wild origin story; and The Horror who possesses monsters from another dimension under his skin.
Steve Blackman (Fargo) will serve as Executive Producer and Showrunner. The pilot comes from Jeremy Slater who recently worked on The Exorcist. Bluegrass TV, along with Mike Richardson and Keith Goldberg of Dark Horse Entertainment is also onboard as Executive Producers. Gerard Way serves as Co-Executive Producer.
The 10-episode season will premiere in 2018 with no specific day or month yet announced by Netflix.
