Umbrella Academy’s final season is here, and star David Castaneda spoke to The Direct about his experience on the Netflix original and revealed that the show was always meant to be four seasons.
The series follows a group of gifted individuals who are taken in and adopted by Colm Feore’s Reginald Hargreeves at a young age. He takes it upon himself to train them to be heroes, but what he gets, mostly due to himself, is a dysfunctional family that eventually falls apart.
Over the seasons, the family has come back together to help stop multiple world-ending events, and now the crew is back for one final ride.
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David Castaneda on Diego's Journey in Umbrella Academy
In an exclusive interview with The Direct's Russ Milheim, The Umbrella Academy's David Castaneda, who plays Diego Hargreeves, revealed that Season 4 was always the end of the road for the show.
The actor shared how showrunner Steve Blackman said early on that he "think[s] [he's] for four [seasons]" in him:
"Blackman said from a very early stage of Season 2, I think he said, 'I think I got four in me. I don't have five. I know Netflix might want five. I think I got four.' So I don't know if it was sort of a coming to a conclusion with both of them to realize, 'Oh, this is as far as we're gonna go.'"
On the flip side, however, Castaneda revealed that Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos - who was chief content officer at the time of Umbrella Academy's premiere - wanted the show "to go for seven" seasons
"I remember we were doing press in Singapore... and Ted Sarandos sat at our table, and he said, 'I love your show.' And our show hadn't come out yet. But he's like, 'I've seen four episodes. I love your show.' And I'm like, Oh, really? He's like, 'Yeah,' he's like, 'I want it to go for seven. I really want this to go for a long time.'… If Ted Sarandos likes the show, then I think we're going to be fine. So I think the fact that we got four seasons when people only get two seasons or three [is great]."
Speaking on Diego's journey through the entire show, Castaneda explained how he feels "people have been able to see past his anger" and "sort of impulsive, intense, erratic behavior," something the actor hopes that audiences can now "hopefully relate to:"
"I feel like people have been able to see past his anger and have gotten to like his sort of impulsive, intense, erratic behavior at times. It's sort of become a character trait that people can hopefully relate to. Where, at first, you didn't really get that much. You got this resentful kid who was angry at his father and didn't like his brothers. But as the season goes along, we start realizing how much he actually does care about his siblings and about his dad and how much pressure he puts on himself to be a good person... I've really liked that."
The Direct then posed a time-traveling question: what would Season 4 Diego say to Season 1 if the two met face-to-face?
Castaneda noted that the Season 4 version of his character would "try to talk to Season 1 Diego," while that version "would not listen:"
"I think Season 4 Diego will try to talk to Season 1 Diego. But he knows that Diego would not listen. He knows that Season 1 Diego thinks he's too hot shit to have any conversation, and I feel like Season 1 Diego would insult the living hell out of Season 4 Diego... And then Season 4, Diego will probably be like, 'I know more than you because I'm a father, but also, I'm crying on the inside right now because you're making fun of me because I'm that insecure about the stuff that you're calling out on me.' And then, after, I think that Season 4 Diego would crack into Season 1 Diego and take him to get some ice cream."
But what makes Season 4 unique compared to the previous three?
Well, for one, "it's six episodes," and the actor also added that this time around, the first episodes don't kick off with a world-ending tease:
"It's six episodes. I think what it does, too, is it doesn't give you the, at the end of the first episode, the world's going to end. It really lets the audience fall back with these characters. And then the powers kick it off. I think it's very brave that we go a full episode in episode one; you just see dynamics, you don't see any powers… To me, episode two, when it kicks off, it's probably the best episode I think we've ever shot. It's the funniest episode, I think, out of all the seasons... I can watch that over and over again."
Explaining how he's grown as an actor after his journey on the show, Castaneda shared that he "definitely was able to relax a lot more" and that he felt he "was just trying to prove [himself] in the same way Diego was:"
"Well, I definitely was able to relax a lot more. When I first started 'Umbrella,' I had a chip on my shoulder, sort of like with Diego. I had a big chip on my shoulder. I was very insecure, and at times, I still am. But at that point, I think I was trying to prove myself in the same way Diego was."
The actor continued, elaborating on how "each season of Diego has informed [him] of myself even more:"
"And it's interesting how each season of Diego has informed me of myself even more, trying to tap into the things that Diego wants. From Season 1, he's resentful of his siblings, father, and upbringing. And then, in Season 2, he's just trying to understand his dad… Season 3 sort of tells him to step in as a father. So all of these things, I feel, have molded myself as an actor, and being able not to force things…"
"You have to find very quickly how not to control things," the actor said:
"Because that's the big thing about acting. It's like when you show up, and there are six other actors in there... you have to find very quickly how not to control things because it's never going to be what you expect. So, showing up and surrendering to that. And with that comes a lot of security. So that goes back to the insecure part, being able to sort of let that go and be like, I'm just going to observe the space and see where I fit in. The fact that it just works so perfectly that Diego can live in these places. Because everyone's so different."
At the end of the day, though, Castaneda did admit that, out of all family members, it would have been great to have more scenes with Colm Feore's Reginald Hargreeves:
"I think Reginald would have been something that I'd like to do. I think Reginald was sort of like in pockets of all the seasons, and it was cool, but I think more closure within that would have been nicer. With Klaus, that was something that was tapped into in Season 1, very little in Season 2 and 3. I mean, Season 3 was really funny in the elevator scene, right? That, to me, was super funny. And obviously, I'd always want more stuff with Luther, you know, always."
Umbrella Academy's final season hits Netflix on Thursday, August 8.
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