Season 2 of the Netflix original Superhero series The Umbrella Academy exploded the Hargreeves children in Texas – in the early 1960s – to once again fight an immediate threatening day. While most cast members have familiar faces, a few new characters entered the soiree. Lila was one of the notable additions, played by Ritu Arya ( Red message, feel good, people).
David Castañeda (Diego) and Aidan Gallagher (No. 5) sat down for talks on season 2 of The Umbrella Academy. During her conversation about the high-octane, dark comic, and unpredictable show, Castañeda Gallagher asked about Lila. They discussed the character’s purpose in season 2 and possible value for the show’s future.
[Spoiler warning for season 2 of ‘The Umbrella Academy’]
Who is Lila in ‘The Umbrella Academy?’
Lila is the daughter of The Handler in The Umbrella Academy. However, as the season progresses, it becomes quite clear that Lila is her mother’s pawn. Lila is not a man with emotions, but a means to an end for The Handler. She’s a way for The Handler to make sure her image for the future comes true, for Lila is just as gifted as the Hargreeves children (if not moreso).
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At the end of the season, Lila’s powers reveal themselves, as she can leave behind the abilities of all the other Hargreeves’ children. In other words, it looks like the other 43 special children born in October of 1989 will come to the fore as the series progresses. Lila is destined to be one of them. And, given her beautiful relationship with Diego, it is likely that her romance will be tested as well.
David Castañeda and Aidan Gallagher talk Lila in ‘The Umbrella Academy’
During a one-on-one discussion for MTV News, Castañeda Gallagher asked: ‘What do you think is the significance of Lila’s presence in the second season? Does it raise the question of a larger image? Gallagher replied:
I would say it is definitely an expansion at The Umbrella Academy. We look like a very closed family. I mean, the academy itself is a great metaphor for that: It’s this enclosing interior space in which most of our lives take place. But for the outside world, it’s just every day, they do not realize that we are trying to stop this apocalypse. That, it’s a very self-contained story.
And, Lila represents this other side of possibility, of these other members of what the Umbrella Academy may have been. She is one of the 43 superheroes born that day. That has a kind of metaphorical meaning.
MTV News
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Aidan Gallagher explains that Lila represents ‘the other’ – the outside world that has been largely absent The Umbrella Academy. She serves to shed a light on what could have been, like the many other gifted children who were born on that fateful October day. They wander, and they often live lives that are worth witnessing.
