Elliot Page Reflects on Transformative Experience on The Umbrella Academy After Coming Out: 'Everything Feels So Much Better' (Exclusive)

Characters on Umbrella Academy have been through so much over the past few seasons, but the show has also had a big impact on the cast.

Speaking exclusively to PEOPLE, Elliot Page, who plays Victor Hargreeves on the hit Netflix series, noted that one of the biggest ways he’s grown as an actor over the past four seasons has been becoming himself after his transition.

After the 37-year-old actor came out as transgender in December 2020, Page’s character was reintroduced to fans as Viktor Hargreeves in Season 3, which Page says helped him feel “much better” about acting on set.

“It’s been a big change for me that a lot of my experiences have come out as trans, or even this last season was on Tu for a while,” Page adds. “The difference is so significant and I love it. I hope to continue acting and see how it affects my work.”

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Elliot Page as Victor Hargreeves.

Courtesy of Netflix

In the final season in particular, we see Viktor go through a lot of character growth as he confronts Reginald Hargreeves about his past traumas.

“As an actor to do a scene like that and face Reginald Hargreeves in that way and it’s so intensely satisfying,” explains Page. “It’s just so juicy and so much of Viktor’s journey leads up to that moment, his ability to express himself and stand up for himself.”

Page adds that it was particularly gratifying to see the progress his character made over the course of the series. “Playing this character and knowing that where he started at the beginning of this whole series, so closed in on himself, he hardly knew how to talk to people or connect with them, and now we really see him stronger inside. He still has some things to deal with, like the guy could probably work out some of those anger issues, but he’s on his way. It was a really good feeling to see him really step into himself and get a new sense of self-esteem.”

Elliot Page and Emmy Raver-Lampman in The Umbrella Academy. Netflix’s Emmy Raver-Lampman Talks About Playing Mom Umbrella Academy He Prepared Her for Real Motherhood (Exclusive)

His co-star Emmy Raver-Lampman, who plays Viktor’s superhero sister Allison, adds that one of the best parts of the show was meeting fans who saw themselves in their characters.

“Being on the show, I’ve had the opportunity to meet so many of our amazing fans, many of whom are women of color and young black women, and they’ve told me how much it means to them to see themselves on this show,” she says, adding, “And not just me, many they see themselves in David [Castañeda]and in Rita [Arya], and in Elliot. It’s so important. The national team is so important.”

“This series, which is based on a graphic novel that’s not traditionally a color family, a diverse cast and then how that cast has driven all of our stories and how it’s influenced the stories that are told on our show has opened to incredibly high ratings and incredibly diverse viewership,” she adds.

“I’m leaving so proud of this show and the fans it’s gained because I got cast in it, and because Elliott got cast in it, and because David got cast in it, and Justin [H. Min]and Rita, and every single person who comes from a marginalized group of people.”

The Umbrella Academy Season 4.

Netflix

As the series draws to a close, Page hopes fans will feel “closure” with the ending. “I just hope that people will be touched and that they will end up feeling connected to the brothers and sisters and that you will be with us in that moment.”

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The fourth and final season of the series Umbrella Academy premieres globally on Netflix on August 8.

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Source: HIS Education