tvElliot Page will share with the world at the end of 2020 that he is transgender. The actor has just played a female character for two seasons in Netflix series ‘The Umbrella Academy’. The third season was released this week and Page can be seen in it again. But how did the makers deal with the actor’s transition?
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NB! This article contains spoilers about the progress of ‘The Umbrella Academy’.
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After Page announced that he would now go through life as a man, Netflix immediately announced Page’s name in the credits of ‘The Umbrella Academy’ to adjust. From then on, the creators of the hit series also faced a new challenge, as they worked with an actor who has transitioned over the course of the series’ story. Elliot Page is also the first regular cast member of an American TV show to change gender halfway through the series.
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Because of all the supernatural powers in the series, there were a lot of options open to the creators of the new season for the new season ‘The Umbrella Academy’ to make Page change gender. Despite that, a much simpler way has been chosen to change the character’s identity. In the second episode of this season it becomes clear how the series approaches it.
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Watch the trailer for the Netflix series here.
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At the start of season three, Page is still portraying the cisgender woman Vanya, as his character was known in the first two seasons. It is not until the second episode that he is reintroduced as Viktor. When his adoptive sister Allison calls Viktor a “good sister,” he seems to struggle with that label. At another moment, Viktor stares longingly at a poster of men’s haircuts on a barber’s window.
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The character then goes to the hairdresser for a short haircut and introduces himself to his surroundings as Viktor. Then, when asked who Viktor is, he replies, “That’s me. It’s who I’ve always been. Is that a problem for anyone?” His friends and family are happy for him and he is showered with compliments on his new haircut.
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That’s more or less how the rest of the season treats the subject. The only other conversation about his transition is later with Allison, who feels guilty for not realizing before that Viktor wasn’t feeling himself in his body. Viktor then asks why she feels so guilty, since he himself never really understood who he was. He looks at his reflection in a window and admits that he used to hate seeing himself in the mirror. Allison asks what he sees now, and Viktor grants himself a small smile before saying, “Me. Only me.”
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