Umbrella Academy actor David Castaneda revealed that one of Diego’s original superpowers was cut from the final season of this Netflix series.
Fans will know that Diego’s main ability is manipulating the trajectory of objects and that he is particularly adept at using knives, his signature weapon of choice.
Additionally, in the original comics, he has another ability: he can hold his breath indefinitely. However, that power has never been incorporated into the series.
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David Castaneda Reveals Diego's Cut Superpowers
While speaking exclusively to The Direct's Russ Milheim, Umbrella Academy actor David Castaneda, who portrays Diego Hargreeves, revealed that his character's original underwater breathing almost made it into Season 4.
When asked if he was sad not to have explored Diego's underwater breathing abilities in the show, the actor noted how he's "not sad."
The actor revealed that those powers almost made it into the final season during the Baby Shark scene in Season 4, Episode 2, but the bit was removed from the final cut:
"Something that was cut out from that scene which is, everyone starts getting new powers, and Diego in the car ride on that trip, discovers that he can hold his breath longer than everyone else's. So that whole bit was cut out of that whole scene. So you do see him being able to hold his breath compared to everyone else for like, three hours. And that was cut. And I think it made sense because it's just funnier. It was much funnier like that."
The Baby Shark scene in question takes place not long after getting secretly dosed with Marigold, and the entire Hargreeves clan starts to get sick as everyone is crammed into this one van.
Castaneda described the family's scene in the van as "prime Umbrella," elaborating on how great it is to film with the whole cast:
"It was prime 'Umbrella,' everyone together in a hot car, bantering back and forth. Because that's the thing about working with such talented actors, and also the production and the sound, is that everyone behind the camera [knows] what they're getting into, and especially when we do those kinds of scenes where we have to sort of talk over each other to get that sort of sensation that we are in a road trip. We are a family and we are sort of up against our necks. Given the fact that it was also winter, so it was super cold when we were shooting those scenes."
Castaneda shared how he learned to "really trust the dynamics" between himself and his castmates while working the show, something necessary to "catch magic on screen:"
"But yeah, that's one thing I learned about working with all of them. If you trust the dynamics, you'll catch magic on screen. That's sort of what we got, with everyone kind of talking over each other with like, the pee bottle, the kombucha, and the 'Baby Shark', you know, and the throwing up, it was just so good."
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Was It a Mistake to Cut Diego’s Umbrella Academy Superpower in Season 4?
While it’s sad that Diego’s underwater powers never made it into Umbrella Academy, and perhaps somehow sadder that it almost did, there did not seem to be much room for the ability to play any notable role in the plot. Its presence, or lack of, would not have mattered past a fun Easter egg.
At least Diego gets a fun power-up for Season 5, with the character getting even closer to the power seen from Marvel's Magneto (at least on a visual level).
He’s not alone, either. Everyone across the board gets slight new tweaks and perks. However, it did come across fairly randomly, the best example being Lila’s laser eyes.
At the end of the day, however, many fans might argue that it’s not the powers in the show that truly matter but the family at its center. There are probably plenty more who would take issue with that stance.
Umbrella Academy's fourth and final season is now streaming on Netflix.
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