Elliot Page on coming out to The Umbrella Academy showrunner
The star came out as transgender after the second season of the show. (Getty)
Elliot Page has recalled the “incredible” reaction the showrunner at The Umbrella Academy had to him coming out as trans.
The highly-anticipated fourth season of The Umbrella Academy is set to hit Netflix in August, with the star giving fans a hint at what to expect from the final series. Page has been a part of the Netflix series since the show first premiered in 2019, with the actor coming out as transgender after the second season of The Umbrella Academy in 2020.
In a recent interview at the TIME100 Summit where Page was named one of Time Magazine’s TIME100 People of the Year, the actor said the series showrunner Steve Blackman was “actually probably one of the first people I came out to”.
Page explained that Blackman wanted to encourage the actor to transition and incorporate his journey into the series after coming out. “I was supposed to go back to shoot the third season and wanted to ideally get surgery before. I called him nervously and he was incredible,” Page said.
“If anything, he was the one who was very insistent on me having it be a part of the show and supported me to be able to access the care I was hoping to get at that time.”
In the third season, his character Vanya Hargreeves was simply reintroduced as Viktor Hargreeves. Page announced his character’s transition with a photo of himself on set: “Meet Viktor Hargreeves.”
Netflix responded at the time, saying: “Welcome to the family, Viktor — we’re so happy you’re here.”
The Pageboy author came out publicly in December 2020, writing in an Instagram post: “Hi friends, I want to share with you that I am trans, my pronouns are he/they and my name is Elliot.
“I feel lucky to be writing this. To be here. To have arrived at this place in my life,” he wrote at the time. “I love that I am trans. And I love that I am queer. And the more I hold myself close and fully embrace who I am, the more I dream, the more my heart grows and the more I thrive.”
