Netflix is ending one of my favourite shows... but it's actually a good thing

Netflix has announced that The Umbrella Academy will return for a fourth and final season before ending the show for good. 

The superhero show premiered its third season in June this year, debuting at the number one spot on Netflix's English-language TV weekly rankings at 125.5 million hours viewed. It then remained within the top 10 ranking for five weeks across the streaming platform. 

Developed by Steve Blackman for Netflix and created by My Chemical Romance lead singer Gerard Way, The Umbrella Academy tells the story of seven orphans who are adopted by billionaire industrialist Sir Reginald Hargreaves. Each child has their own special ability, which Hargreaves uses to form The Umbrella Academy as he prepares the group to save the world. 

Blackman will return as showrunner and executive producer for the final season, with the main cast all expected to return too. Blackman is also working on the Horizon TV series that Netflix and Sony partnered for earlier this year.  

"I’m so excited that the incredibly loyal fans of The Umbrella Academy will be able to experience the fitting end to the Hargreeves siblings’ journey we began five years ago," said the showrunner. "But before we get to that conclusion, we’ve got an amazing story ahead for season four, one that will have fans on the edge of their seats until the final minutes."  

Since it first premiered in February 2019, The Umbrella Academy has become one of my personal favourite shows on Netflix, delivering three strong seasons that go places you wouldn't expect. It's a refreshing take on the superhero genre – like The Boys – except not as gory but still quite weird, and I love it for that. 

Aiden Gallagher as "Five" is a revelation (the actor would make a great Robin alongside Robert Pattinson's Batman by the way), while the dynamics between the seven siblings keep things interesting from start to finish. I'm also a big fan of Lila (Ritu Arya), who always feels like a firecracker ready to shake things up at any moment. 

While any show coming to an end is sad, I'm just pleased the show is getting a proper send off, instead of being abruptly cancelled like so many Netflix shows have been this year. Not prolonging The Umbrella Academy for the sake of it is also smart. Four seasons is more than enough. I wouldn't want to see it go on for six or eight. Four solid seasons and out sounds perfect to me. The Umbrella Academy has some brilliant originality to it and I'm confident the show will stick the landing, giving fans a fitting conclusion.   

The Umbrella Academy stars Elliot Page, Aidan Gallagher, Tom Hopper, David Castañeda, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Robert Sheehan, Justin H. Min, Ritu Arya and Colm Feore. All three seasons are now available to stream on Netflix. 

Speaking of shows coming to an end, Netflix most recently cancelled its Resident Evil series only two months after the video game adaption arrived on the platform.