Why Umbrella Academy's Original Movie Plan Wouldn't Have Worked
The original plan for adapting The Umbrella Academy was to make a movie, although it simply wouldn't have been as good as the Netflix series.
The original plans to adapt The Umbrella Academy into a movie simply wouldn't have worked, and Netflix's series was ultimately a much better choice for the story. Adapted from Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá's comic book series of the same name, The Umbrella Academy has proven to be one of Netflix's most popular original series. However, had the adaptation followed a different path, the results would have been markedly less successful.
Following the superpowered Hargreeves siblings as they reunite after the death of their rich and eccentric adoptive father, The Umbrella Academy sees the titular heroes attempt to stave off the impending apocalypse through superpowered means. The Umbrella Academy's superhero team is particularly dysfunctional, and the show's greatest virtue is the deep and often comedic way in which this dysfunction manifests. While much of this success is owed to the excellent talents of the show's cast, it also speaks to the work that creator Steve Blackman and developer Jeremy Slater put in to translate the charm of Way and Bá's comic book series to the screen. Though the story of Netflix's The Umbrella Academy deviates from that of the comics, the spirit of the characters and their story is wholly intact.
Originally, however, the plan was to adapt The Umbrella Academy into a film. This was ultimately shelved in 2015 in favor of the Netflix series, but the original idea for an Umbrella Academy movie simply wouldn't have carried the same charm as the show. With the release of The Umbrella Academy season 3 looming ever closer, it seems as though the characters of the Netflix show were made to be given more long-form, deeper exploration than a movie could have offered them. Without this added depth, it's unlikely that the transition from comic book to screen would have been so successful.
Though the idea of an Umbrella Academy movie is certainly an enticing prospect, the way that film production works would ultimately have impeded the success of the franchise. This is perhaps most evident in the characterization of Number Five, the adult time-traveling member of the Umbrella Academy who finds himself trapped in the body of a child. As the nature of the character requires a child actor who seemingly doesn't age, the gaps between movies would mean that Umbrella Academy's Number Five would visibly age between installments. While this is still a consideration for the Netflix series, each season can tell a longer and more complete story, making it less of a concern.
This slightly longer format also allows for a much deeper exploration of the show's characters. This has ultimately proved one of the biggest strengths of Netflix's Umbrella Academy, as its complex characters and their even more complex family dynamic has been given the appropriate time to develop naturally, as opposed to being rushed into the two-hour runtime of a single film. The way that The Umbrella Academy has achieved this has even led some to believe that Netflix's comic book shows are better than Marvel's, particularly as Umbrella Academy has taken the time to make its heroes feel more realistically human.
It seems as though the slightly longer format and episodic nature have been a large part of The Umbrella Academy's Netflix success. This isn't something that could have been achieved in quite the same way had the original movie plans gone ahead - the story would have been simplified in order to fit a two or three-hour film, and that ultimately would have hurt its overall quality. Part of The Umbrella Academy's appeal is its thorough examination of the dysfunction of its titular superhero team, and the original movie plan would only have cheapened that aspect in one way or another.